In order to indicate that this is the opening of a new story, Contemporary English Version inserts the words “One day” at the beginning of this chapter. Other languages may have similar devices that can be used here.

Now they told David: literally “And they told David saying.” But the pronoun they has no clear antecedent. It is probably intended to be vague, and for this reason some versions use the passive, “David was told” (New International Version); “this was reported to David” (Revised English Bible). But where the passive is not an option, translators may prefer to say “David received information” (New American Bible) or “someone told David” (New Century Version).

Keilah (see Josh 15.44) was a town in Judah just five kilometers (or about three miles) south of Adullam (22.1). The Philistines were, of course, fighting against the people of this town and trying to take it over. Their main interest, however, seems to have been stealing grain.

Robbing the threshing floors: the word floor in English may make the reader think of something made of wood, but threshing floors were hard, level surfaces in the open air, located outside of towns, where the blowing winds could separate the seeds from the husks. People either walked on the grain or dragged a heavy board over it, and then tossed both grain and husks into the air. The wind blew away the lighter husks, but the heavier grain fell to the ground. The Philistines were not actually stealing the threshing floors but rather the grain that was being threshed there. Good News Translation makes clear that it was the “grain” that was being stolen and not the threshing floor itself, but it fails to indicate the place from which the grain was stolen. New Century Version may be a useful model: “robbing grain from the threshing floors.”

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 .