After this: this reflects the Hebrew verb of transition sometimes translated “and it came to pass.” Here it serves both to indicate the passage of time since the events related in the previous chapter, and to introduce a new episode. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “Sometime afterward,” Moffatt says “Later on…,” and New International Version translates “In the course of time….”

Got himself a chariot and horses: the translation should not give the impression that Absalom had not previously owned or used chariots or horses. But in this passage he is depicted as beginning to act like a person who will soon become king. The verb is rendered “prepared” by Goldman. The Hebrew verb in the Dead Sea Scrolls at this point may be translated “began to make use of…” (Anchor Bible). Riding around in a chariot with fifty men to run before him was behavior typical of royalty (see 1 Sam 8.11). The runners who accompanied him served as a kind of bodyguard to protect their master and see to his every need. The number of these servants is the same as in the story of David’s other rebellious son, Adonijah (1 Kgs 1.5).

On the word for chariot, see 1.6; 8.4; and 10.18 as well as 1 Sam 8.11.

One suggested translation of this verse is:

• Later on Absalom began to move about the city in a chariot drawn by horses, and he had fifty men to run before him [to prepare the way].

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 .