The pronoun they at the beginning of this verse clearly refers to the people of Israel. This may be made clear in the receptor language by replacing the pronoun if it seems more natural. It may also be more natural to restructure the verse so that the reader is told first about David’s having set up the tent for the Covenant Box and then about the Israelites bringing the Box in and placing it inside the tent. The use of the past perfect tense, had pitched for it, accomplishes the same purpose in English, but the resources of the receptor language may not allow this possibility.

The Temple was not yet built and would, in fact, be built by his son Solomon only after David’s death. Translators should not use the same term or expression here for tent that they use elsewhere for the Temple.

And David offered …: the conjunction at this point may be rendered more creatively as “Then” (New American Bible as well as Good News Translation), showing the next step in a sequence of events.

Burnt offerings and peace offerings: these two types of offering are explained in detail in Lev 1.2-17 and 3.1-17. Translators should ensure that their use of such terms is consistent throughout the Bible. Note that the second of these is called “fellowship offerings” in Good News Translation and New International Version. See also comments at 1 Sam 10.8.

The following restructuring of this verse may be helpful to some translators:

• David had the Tent set up for the Covenant Box. Then the Israelite carriers brought the Box and put it in its place in the Tent. After that David offered sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the LORD.

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 .