Now then: literally “And now.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “Meanwhile.” This expression shifts the conversation from one topic to a more important topic that David wishes to deal with.

At hand: literally “under your hand.” The expression simply means “available” or “with you” (New Century Version). Another possible way of translating this is to follow the Contemporary English Version model, “Do you have any food you can give me?”

Give me: literally “give in my hand.” But a literal rendering will probably not be natural in most languages.

New Jerusalem Bible avoids the use of the question format and translates “Meanwhile, if you have five loaves of bread to hand, give them to me, or whatever there is.”

Whatever is here: literally, “what is found.” David is prepared to accept any food that is convenient if the five loaves of bread are not available. New American Bible “whatever you can find” is close to the form of the original and is meaningful English. Others may prefer to say “whatever you have.”

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 .