The men of the city: that is, the soldiers who were defending the city of Rabbah. This will be better translated “enemy troops” (Good News Translation), “defending soldiers,” or “the men who were protecting the city.”

Fought with Joab: this, of course, should not be taken literally as meaning that Joab was fighting alone against these men, but rather as indicating that the Ammonite troops were fighting against the troops whom Joab was commanding.

Servants of David: as in previous verses of this chapter (1, 9, 11, and 13), this refers to officers in David’s army who were under Joab’s command.

Fell: on the use of this term for death in battle, see 1 Sam 4.10.

Uriah the Hittite: Uriah is qualified five times in this chapter alone as “the Hittite.” If such repetition is awkward in the receptor language, it need not be repeated every time. But the writer was obviously making this a point of emphasis, that a non-Israelite was more righteous than David, and this should be retained wherever possible.

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 .