Good News Translation has restructured this verse by combining the first two lines. Contemporary English Version also combines lines one and two but breaks the sentence into four lines as follows:
is like the sunrise
on a cloudless day,
or like rain that sparkles
on the grass.
He dawns: the pronoun refers back to the one who rules justly. And the verb, which is normally used only of the sun, is used figuratively to speak of the ruler. The subject of the verb is usually the sun (for example, Gen 32.31; Jonah 4.8), but it is sometimes used of the LORD or the glory of the LORD (Isa 60.1-2), or “the sun of righteousness” (Mal 4.2). This, however, is the only case in the Old Testament where the subject of the verb “dawn” is a human ruler. The context clearly indicates that the just ruler is being compared to the sun. Nevertheless many languages will have to use a verb with a more general meaning like “appear” or “arise.” Or another alternative is to make the implied comparison explicit by saying something like “he [the ruler] is like the sun dawning….”
Like rain: instead of taking this as a second comparison, this time likening the ruler to the rain, most modern scholars translate “after rain” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), making this an extension of the original comparison of the ruler to the sun, and this interpretation seems to be more faithful to the Hebrew. The image is that of the sun rising on a clear morning just after a rain storm: “He is like sunshine after a rain…” (New Century Version). Translators are advised to follow this interpretation.
Makes grass to sprout: literally “grass from earth” or “grass of earth.” The cryptic nature of the Hebrew text has led some interpreters to supply the verb sprout as in Revised Standard Version, or “grow” (New Century Version), but others supply “sparkle” (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, as well as Good News Translation). The latter is preferred.
In some languages it may be necessary to state more clearly in what way the just ruler is like the sun. Possibly some may wish to say that such a ruler is “as welcome as the sunrise on a day without clouds, or as pleasing as sunshine after the rain….”
If translators use the quote within a quote formula as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, it will be very important that the end of the internal quotation is clearly marked at the end of this verse.
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 .