While the parallel in Psa 18 has the Hebrew transition word rendered “For” in Revised Standard Version at the beginning of this verse, this seems unnecessary here, since no cause and effect relation between verses 27 and 28 seems indicated.

Deliver translates the verb translated “save” in 3.18, “gave victory” in 8.6, 14, and “help” in 10.11, 19; 14.4. The same term is used in verses 3 and 4 of this chapter.

A humble people: the word translated humble is elsewhere “poor” (Exo 22.25), “the afflicted” (Psa 9.12), and “the meek” (Psa 10.17). The Hebrew word refers to people who have been humbled by difficult circumstances, who have been taken advantage of.

The parallel in Psa 18 here reads “haughty eyes thou dost bring down,” and this reading from Psa 18 has been assimilated into this verse in 2 Samuel in the Septuagint and the ancient Syriac. This is the basis for the New Jerusalem Bible translation, “You … humiliate those with haughty looks.” But according to the Masoretic Text, here in 2 Samuel the wording is different. In this case the “eyes” are those of Yahweh, and the haughty refers to proud people who are contrasted with humble people in the previous line. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text.

The verb bring … down translates the causative form of a verb meaning “to be low.” It means “to humiliate, shame, defeat” (in contrast with deliver in line a). The act of “bringing down” or “lowering” the haughty (or “high”) is a play on words involving the idea of downward movement. In some languages this same wordplay can be maintained. For example, “but you lower the heads of those who carry them high” or “but you bend people down who put their noses up.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .