The parallelism of verse 15 carries two functions. If them is taken to refer to the enemies, the action of destroying the enemies is brought forward from verse 18. At the same time line b, lightning, may be seen as an intensification of sent out arrows. The added intensity of the second line should be represented in translation; for example, “He shot his arrows…; he even flashed them with lightning….” While the parallel in Psa 18 has the verb “flashed forth [lightning],” this is not found here in 2 Samuel. It may, however, be taken as understood and therefore made explicit in translation.

In this verse the parallel form implies that the “flashes of lightning” are Yahweh’s arrows that he shoots. In areas where the shooting of arrows is not known, it may be necessary to substitute another weapon.

The Hebrew text does not say what (or who) is referred to by them in both lines. Some take it to be the arrows themselves; compare Revised English Bible “He loosed arrows, he sped them far and wide, his lightning shafts, and sent them echoing.” Others, like Good News Translation and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, take it to be a reference to “his enemies.” The two verbs scattered and routed (“to confuse, bring into commotion”) seem to apply more naturally to people than to weapons, and so it is recommended that “his enemies” be given as the object of the two verbs.

For some languages the following model may be more suitable than either Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation:

• He caused the lightning to flash,
and made his enemies scatter.
It was like shooting arrows
to make them run away.

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 .