For the verb tenses, see the comment at verse 38.

The two lines of verse 45 are reversed in the Psa 18 parallel. The order of the lines here in 2 Samuel may be more acceptable in many languages because it makes the subject Foreigners come first and gives a clearer meaning to the words that follow. Foreigners is literally “sons of a foreign land”; but the word “sons of” is an idiom meaning “belonging to a certain class [or group] of beings,” and the meaning is simply “foreigners.”

Came cringing (Good News Translation “bow”) translates a verb that has the idea of forced, unwilling submission. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “cower”; also possible is “wince” or “flinch.” The whole expression came cringing to me must be expressed in some languages as “they squat on the ground in front of me,” “they hold my feet” or “they bend their heads down in my presence.”

As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me is more literally “At the hearing of the ear they obey me.” Some see this as a reference to an incident like the one related in 8.9-12, where King Toi of Hamath surrendered to King David. The meaning of the English expression they heard of me (Revised Standard Version) is that they heard he was a great and powerful king. This may be the meaning intended by the Hebrew, but Good News Translation “hear me” is also possible (similarly New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and Bible en français courant).

In verse 46 the verb phrase lost heart (Good News Translation “lose their courage”) translates a Hebrew verb that means to fade away, to wither (in Psa 1.3 it is used of leaves that do not wither). Here the verb is used in a figurative sense. Lost heart is sometimes expressed idiomatically as “the heart grows small,” “heart grows weak,” or “the stomach becomes white.”

The verb translated came trembling occurs only here in the Old Testament. The meaning found in Revised Standard Version is based on a different verb in Hebrew from that in the Masoretic Text, a verb with the same consonants but in a different order. But the precise meaning of the verb in the Masoretic Text is uncertain. It may mean “they gird themselves” or “they limp.” Here Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommends the translation “they came limping” or “they came trembling.” New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy say “trembling.” New American Bible has “staggered forth.” Others define the verb simply “to come out, to emerge”; the ancient Greek version translates “they came out limping.”

The word translated fastnesses appears to have two different uses. (1) It may refer to the “rim” of a table or base. So in Exo 25.25, 27; 37.12, 14 it is translated “frame,” and seven times in 1 Kgs 7.28-36 it is translated “panels.” (2) It may also refer to a fortified, strongly held position, often a rocky refuge. It is not an elaborate “fortress” in the modern sense. This term is sometimes rendered “the place where people hide from their enemies” or “the place where people go to for protection from their enemies.” Holladay defines this noun as “dungeon” in this context, and KB defines it as “prison.”

Others, however, understand this Hebrew noun to mean “a collar worn around the neck.” Part of the support for this meaning rests on how one understands the sense of the same word in Psa 142.7. Anchor Bible, for example, has “they came fettered by their collars,” meaning that the conquered foreigners were like captured slaves held as prisoners with collars or stocks around their necks.

While the translation in Anchor Bible certainly fits the context well, it will probably be best to follow the majority of modern translations and say something like “they came trembling with fear out of their hiding places.”

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 .