The lords of the Philistines: that is, the five Philistine kings (see the comment on 5.8). Here the literal rendering of Revised Standard Version gives the mistaken impression that there were thousands of lords of the Philistines. But what is meant is that the five Philistine kings were marching by with their groups of soldiers, as New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “each with his units of hundreds or of thousands.” On the expression by hundreds and by thousands, see the comments on 22.7.

Achish, the Philistine king of Gath (see 21.10), was last mentioned in 28.2. Translators may wish to identify Achish again here as “King Achish” (Good News Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Achish was one of the five lords, not an additional one.

Revised Standard Version, following the Hebrew, continues the sentence begun in this verse through to the middle of verse 3. This makes a long, complicated sentence that should probably be broken down into smaller units in most languages. The entire verse may be translated as follows:

• The five Philistine kings gathered all of their troops and marched out in battalions. The soldiers of Achish, the King of Gath, brought up the rear; and David and his men marched in the rear with Achish and his troops.

The translation in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar.

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 .