This thing that you have done is not good: Abner is in fact accused of failing to fulfill his responsibilities rather than of actually doing something. The idea is “You have performed poorly” or “What you have allowed to happen is not good.” Contemporary English Version translates dynamically “You’re a complete failure!”

As the LORD lives: see verse 10 above.

You deserve to die: literally “for you [are] sons of death.” This may also be translated “you are destined to die.” See the same Hebrew idiom in 20.31 and 2 Sam 12.5. In Hebrew these words and the following verb you have not kept watch are plural, referring to the soldiers under Abner as well as to Abner himself. Good News Translation adds the word “all” in order to show that David is talking to both Abner and the army. But in languages that distinguish the singular and plural second person pronouns, the use of the plural pronoun alone should be adequate.

The LORD’s anointed: see the comments on 2.10.

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 .