Perhaps the house wall was built into the wall of the city, so that by escaping from the house, David also escaped from the city (see Josh 2.15). A similar escape takes place in the New Testament in Acts 9.25, where Paul was helped to escape by his disciples. This incident is also referred to in 2 Cor 11.33.

Both verses 12 and 13 repeat the name Michal. Following acceptable English style, Good News Translation substitutes pronouns in both verses.

Fled away and escaped: literally “he walked, and he fled, and he escaped.” Regarding the second Hebrew verb, “he fled,” see the comments on verse 18.

Escaped: see the comments on verse 10.

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 .