It may be unnecessary and even awkward in some languages to repeat the word Philistines as the subject of this sentence, since the name is already given in the previous verse.

Took … and brought: though the Hebrew uses two verbs here, only one action is described—the Philistines did not take the ark somewhere else before they brought it to the house of Dagon. Many translations combine the two verbs into one, as in Good News Translation.

The ark of God: see the comments on 3.3. For reasons of style Good News Translation uses the pronoun “it” rather than repeating the noun phrase.

The house of Dagon: it may be necessary to make explicit the fact that the house is a temple or “shrine” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), and that Dagon is a Philistine god (Judges 16.23 refers to Dagon as the god of the Philistines). Archaeological evidence shows that Dagon was worshiped also in Mesopotamia and Syria.

Beside Dagon: Revised Standard Version is a literal translation, while Good News Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Contemporary English Version clarify that the reference is to a “statue” of the god Dagon.

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 .