You shall not go up: the context shows that this was not a categorical prohibition to attack but a matter of tactical advice. The recommendation was to decline a frontal offensive and to attack from the rear. Some manuscripts of the Septuagint add “to meet them,” but Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text. Yet the additional material may be considered implicit information that needs to be made explicit in certain languages for translation reasons.

Balsam trees: mentioned only here and in the parallel account in 1 Chr 14, the exact kind of tree involved is uncertain. New American Bible has “the mastic trees,” and Knox has “pear-trees,” while Revised English Bible speaks of “the aspens.” Both Bible en français courant and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translate “micocouliers,” which is a kind of elm tree that grows to a height of 25 meters (more than 80 feet). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh avoids the problem of precise identification by transliterating “baca,” and Anchor Bible similarly uses “bachaim.” It will probably be just as meaningful in some languages to say “trees called baca” as any of the other possibilities. Or, since the precise kind of tree is neither important nor certain, translators may consider a more generic “trees” without attempting to identify the specific kind.

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 .