In God’s words the people of Israel are spoken of in the third person at the beginning: I brought up Israel out of Egypt. Then God addresses the people directly in the second person: and I delivered you. Good News Translation puts all of God’s words in the second person in order to avoid confusing readers. La Bible du Semeur is similar. In some languages it will be advisable to avoid the conjunction and between these two elements, since that would give the impression that two completely different events are being discussed. The two are in fact slightly different ways of talking about the same event. Of course the remainder of the statement, and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you, does speak of separate historical events. For this reason it may be necessary in some languages to begin a new sentence to talk about this. This will require repeating the previous verb. For example, translators may say “He also delivered you from all the other kingdoms that were oppressing you.”

The hand of the Egyptians: that is, from the power of the Egyptians. On the metaphorical use of hand, see 4.8.

The kingdoms that were oppressing you: in Hebrew the noun kingdoms is feminine, but the participle were oppressing is masculine. The reference is to kings such as Cushan-rishathaim (Judges 3.7), Eglon (Judges 3.14), and Jabin (Judges 4.1-3), who oppressed the Israelites after they had fled from Egypt (see also 12.9 for another reference to foreign rulers who oppressed the ancestors of the Israelites). Both Klein and Anchor Bible render the Hebrew noun here as “kings” rather than kingdoms. Since these kings or kingdoms are in addition to the Egyptian ruler, it may be advisable in certain languages to speak of “other kings” or “other kingdoms.”

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 .