Pursued: since the pursuit continues for some time, Good News Translation focuses here on its beginning by saying “started chasing….” The structure of Good News Translation is also different because it makes the description of the speed of Asahel into a relative clause in the previous verse and so does not need the conjunction and or the repetition of the name here.

Neither to the right hand nor to the left: as in 1 Sam 6.12, this idiomatic expression means simply “not to deviate from” a goal (compare Josh 1.7; 23.6), or to “refuse to abandon” a course of action. Asahel would not be distracted by other skirmishes in the battle or by the possibility of chasing some other enemy. Surprisingly most English versions translate this idiom literally. However, it may be advisable in the receptor language to say something more like Good News Translation, or possibly adding “without being distracted,” or adding a separate sentence to the effect that “he did not consider anything else.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy renders this idiom “without giving him any chance to escape.”

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 .