David was then in the stronghold …: The adverb then is used twice in this verse, but both occurrences seem to refer to the same time and so they may be translated by a single term in many languages. It was while David was at his safe place that the Philistine forces were occupying the town of Bethlehem.

The Hebrew word for stronghold is sometimes translated “fortress” and is generally thought to refer to a high place that is well protected (see the comments on 1 Chr 11.5). However, in this case (as in 1 Sam 22.1-5 and 2 Sam 23.14) the word seems to be used as another way of speaking of the cave near the town of Adullam. Since this was a protected place, the identification of the cave as the stronghold is not unreasonable. This means that the Good News Translation rendering “a fortified hill” is probably not correct. New Century Version is better with “a protected place.” Some other possible models are “his refuge” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “his fortified refuge” (Bible en français courant).

And the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem: The root of the Hebrew noun rendered garrison means “to station oneself” and is used both of a governor who supervises and of a military garrison. If the latter is the intended sense here, then the reference is to a more or less permanent military installation. Bethlehem was David’s home, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) south of Jerusalem. Another way of expressing this whole clause is “and the Philistine soldiers had taken up positions in the town of Bethlehem” or “… were controlling Bethlehem.”

Since the last part of the previous verse speaks about the Philistines, Contemporary English Version restructures the present verse by reversing the order of its two clauses and deals first with the clause that speaks of the Philistines before speaking of David: “15 … The Philistine army had set up camp in Rephaim Valley 16 and had taken over Bethlehem. David was in a fortress.” This kind of structure may be more natural in other languages.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .