A keeper: since David was the usual keeper of the sheep, Bible en français courant (1991 edition) translates “another guardian.” The term used here is not the specific word for shepherd but is rather a very general term for a person who keeps watch over or guards anything. The same root word is used in verse 22 of the “keeper of the baggage.”

Took the provisions: the Hebrew has only the verb meaning “to carry,” with no object. The word provisions is supplied by Revised Standard Version. But the verb seems to imply that David carried the grain, bread, and cheese mentioned in verse 17 and 18.

In languages where the verb went requires an indirect object, translators may say something like “to the camp.”

As Jesse had commanded him: this element may fit more naturally at the beginning of this verse in some languages and may possibly become a separate clause introducing what he did; for example, “David did as Jesse had commanded him:….”

Encampment: this renders a Hebrew word whose meaning is not certain. The same noun occurs in 26.5, 7, and most interpreters understand it to mean the “circle of a camp.” La Bible Pléiade understands the word to mean the center of the military camp and renders this clause as “he arrived at the center.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and New American Bible say that “he reached the barricade [of the camp].” A general word such as encampment or “camp” seems preferable.

As the host was going forth: the word host is not common in contemporary English, and New Revised Standard Version replaces host with the word “army.” Most other modern versions also avoid the archaic word. New Jerusalem Bible, for example, has “troops.”

Shouting the war cry: literally “and they shouted in the battle.”

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 .