As the footnote in Revised Standard Version indicates, this is the second verse in chapter 21 in the Masoretic Text and in those translations such as Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh that follow the verse numbers of the Hebrew. Chapter 21 begins in Hebrew in the middle of what is 20.42 in Revised Standard Version. Throughout the remainder of chapter 21, verse numbers in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, which are used in this Handbook, differ by one from the Hebrew numbers. In the running text the Hebrew verse numbers will be included in square brackets for those translators who need to follow them.

On the use of the verbs came (Revised Standard Version) and “went” (Good News Translation), see the comments at 8.4.

Nob was a very short distance north of Jerusalem (see Isa 10.32) and about eight kilometers (or five miles) southwest of Gibeah.

Ahimelech, son of Ahitub (22.20), appears here for the first time in the Old Testament. He was a great-grandson of the priest Eli (see 14.3).

Trembling: see the comments on 13.7. Some suggest that the notion of terror is better understood here and in 16.4 in the sense of “awe,” and that the translation should say that “Ahimelech came to meet David in reverence.” Such an interpretation is not widely accepted and should probably be rejected. It is equally unlikely that this word indicates simply that Ahimelech “hurried out to meet” David, as Revised English Bible indicates. The most likely meaning is that he was afraid of something. Contemporary English Version indicates that Ahimelech was “trembling with fear.”

Ahimelech’s question to David is in two parts, but there is a single thrust. Translators should refrain from giving the impression that being alone and having no one with you constitute two different things. In some cases this may be done by simply avoiding the conjunction and between the two. In other cases translators may prefer to ask a single, more emphatic question.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .