Araunah refers to David indirectly as my lord the king and to himself as his servant, even though he is speaking directly to the king. This will be unnatural in many languages and may in fact be confusing to the reader, since these expressions may be understood as referring to other persons. Translators should look for ways of showing respect while at the same time communicating the meaning “Why have you come to visit me?”

In the context of this exchange between the two men, the words David said may be better rendered “the king responded” or “David answered” as in Good News Translation.

David’s response is not really a complete sentence in Hebrew, and this is reflected in Revised Standard Version. It may be necessary in some languages to supply what is understood and begin the answer with “I have come….” The answer may also present problems for translators because it contains three purpose clauses. The first indicates the purpose of his coming (to buy the threshing floor). The second indicates the purpose of buying the threshing floor (to build an altar), and the third indicates the purpose of building the altar (to stop the spread of the terrible disease).

In some languages it will be better to make two separate sentences of this instead of following the literal rendering of either Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation. The latter seems to place the purchase of the threshing floor and the building of the altar on equal footing by connecting the two phrases with “and.” A possible model is:

• I have come to buy your threshing floor. I want to do this because I would like to build an altar so that I can offer sacrifices to the LORD. Then the terrible disease will stop killing my people.

The idea of offering sacrifices is not directly stated but is clearly implied in the building of an altar. However, it was not the building of the altar that would cause the epidemic to cease, but the offering of sacrifices on that altar. For this reason it may be better to mention specifically the offering of sacrifices at this point. The following verse, however, does make this clearer.

Plague: although the word is not the same as the one rendered “pestilence” in verses 13 and 15, the reference is to the same event. The term used here sometimes carries the idea of a slaughter. Anchor Bible speaks of “the scourge,” while New Century Version has “the terrible disease.”

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 .