13Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. My master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 30:13:
Kupsabiny: “Then David asked that man, ‘Whom do you belong to and where do you come from?’ He replied that, ‘I am an Egyptian and I am a servant of a certain Amalekite. My master abandoned me three days ago, because I became sick.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “David asked him, "Whom are you from? And where are you from?" He replied, "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. But because I got sick three days ago, my master abandoned me.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “David asked him, ‘Who (is) your (sing.) master? And where do- you (sing.) -come-from?’ He replied, ‘I (am) an Egyptian and I (am) a slave of an Amaleknon. Three days now have-passed (since) my master abandoned me, because I became-ill.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “David asked him, ‘Who is your master? And where do you come from?’ He replied, ‘I am from Egypt. I am a slave of a man from the Amalek people-group. Three days ago my master left me here, because I was sick and I was not able to go with them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
David said to him: in many languages it will be more natural to say that David “asked him.” David asks two questions. The first, To whom do you belong? means “Whose slave are you?” (Revised English Bible) or “Who is your master?” (Contemporary English Version). The second question is more geographical in nature. The young man answers the second question first and then responds to the first.
A young man of Egypt: if the information regarding the youth of this Egyptian is shifted forward to verse 11 as in Good News Translation, it may be unnecessary or even unnatural to repeat it here. One may say simply “I’m from Egypt” (Contemporary English Version).
The Hebrew word rendered servant in Revised Standard Version covers a wide range of meanings, including “employee,” “guest,” “one who is subject to a king,” “servant,” and “slave.” The translation “slave” seems preferable in this context.
Amalekite: see the comment on 14.48. The Amalekites are the people who had destroyed Ziklag (verses 1-2).
The transition word and, which introduces the slave’s explanation of why David’s men had found him alone in the area, may be considered out of place if translated literally into other languages. Certain versions (Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version) use the conjunction “but”—perhaps because it would be considered cruel and unusual that a sick slave would be left in the desert to die.
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 .
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