17:55 5 Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”
1 tn Heb “if looking you look.” The expression can refer, as here, to looking favorably upon another, in this case with compassion.
2 tn Heb “handmaid.” The use of this term (translated two more times in this verse and once each in vv. 16, 17 simply as “servant” for stylistic reasons) is an expression of humility.
3 tn Heb “seed of men.”
4 tn Heb “a razor will not go up upon his head.”