So: the messenger went to David as a result of Joab’s instructions and probably did so immediately. The transition word used in the receptor language should convey this idea.

Went, and came: in many languages it will be unnatural to use these two verbs together. Translators will have to decide which one is more natural in this context. Or it is possible to translate the first “left Joab” and the second “came to the place where David was.” New American Bible and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy have something similar, with “the messenger set out, and on his arrival….”

Good News Translation transposes “to David” so that it becomes the grammatical object of the verb went rather than told. It then has “and told him,” to keep clear that he spoke to David.

Sent him to tell: that is, what Joab had “instructed him to say” or “ordered him to report.”

The Septuagint contains the following paragraph at the end of this verse:

• And David was angry with Joab and said to the messenger, “Why did you draw near to the city to fight? Did you not know that you would be wounded from the wall? Who struck Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal? Did not a woman cast upon him a piece of millstone from the wall, and he died in Thebez? Why did you draw near to the wall?”

This addition is the basis for the translations in Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Osty-Trinquet, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy. McCarter (Anchor Bible) argues that neither the Masoretic Text nor the Septuagint preserve the original text here. As the text is reconstructed in Anchor Bible, much of this longer addition is placed in verse 24.

This is obviously a difficult textual problem. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the Masoretic Text here and suggests that the longer reading found in the Septuagint is the result of a deliberate repetition of the words from verses 20-21. But if translators decide to follow the Septuagint here, they should clearly indicate in a footnote that the Masoretic Text does not have this longer text.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .