Called out and told the king: what is implied here is that the watchman informed the king of “what he had seen.” In some languages it will be wise to make this explicit in translation. Also it may be quite natural to translate the two verbs in the Hebrew by a single verb in the receptor language. Others may say something like “shouted down to inform the king.”

There are tidings in his mouth: while David was no doubt hoping for good news, there is nothing in the word tidings used here that necessarily implies the word “good,” which is found in Knox, An American Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Good News Translation. The sense may be that, since only one person is coming rather than a whole lot of soldiers running wildly in retreat, the news must be good. Verse 27 does, however, refer to the news as “good” news. The wording is also strange when translated literally into English. The meaning is that “surely he has news” or “he is bringing news” (Revised English Bible).

He came apace, and drew near: literally “and coming he came and he approached.” The writer is painting a vivid picture of a runner getting closer and closer to the observing watchman. The first two verbs indicate that he was moving rapidly, and the third that he was coming closer to the city gate where the watchman and King David were. Revised English Bible translates the two “he continued to approach,” while New Jerusalem Bible says that he “drew steadily nearer.” Since the text has spoken of several different participants in this story (the watchman, King David, and the runner), it may be wise to use the noun, “runner,” in place of the pronoun he in this expression.

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 .