וַיֹּ֣אמֶר הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ הַאֶ֨פֶס ע֥וֹד אִישׁ֙ לְבֵ֣ית שָׁא֔וּל וְאֶעֱשֶׂ֥ה עִמּ֖וֹ חֶ֣סֶד אֱלֹהִ֑ים...
The king continued, “Is there any member of the House of Saul left with whom I can keep faith as pledged before God?”
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of אִישׁ, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in “Notes on Gender in Translation,” pp. 11–16.)
David’s question here, הַאֶפֶס עוֹד אִישׁ לְבֵית שָׁאוּל, is distinctly different from his question in v. 1, הֲכִי יֶשׁ־עוֹד אֲשֶׁר נוֹתַר לְבֵית שָׁאוּל. There, David’s musing was more hypothetical; now with Ziba in the room, the question becomes more pointedly about identifying a specific candidate. For the speaker now uses אִישׁ, which evokes an essential participant in the desired situation. The prepositional phrase לְבֵית שָׁאוּל directly modifies אִישׁ, qualifying its referent as a representative member of that household (cf. Baruch Levine [Anchor Bible commentary], who points to a לְ of representation at Num 1:5; 13:2).
As for rendering into English, the NJPS ‘Is there anyone at all left of the House of Saul’ is too similar to its rendering of David’s question in v. 1, ‘Is there anyone still left of the House of Saul.’ The revised rendering here is based upon REB (1989): “Is there any member of Saul’s family still alive....”