After this: the initial Hebrew word in this chapter is again a form of the verb “to be,” followed by After this, but King James Version reverses the two expressions (“And after this it came to pass”). After this indicates the passage of time. This wording shows that what follows in the text took place after the events described in the previous chapter, and that a new episode is being introduced. Some translators may prefer a more general expression like “It happened later on,” “In the course of time” (New International Version), or “Some time later” as in Good News Translation. The same kind of transition marker is used at 2.1. See the comments at that point.

The verbs defeated and subdued in Revised Standard Version seem to say the same thing. Both New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and Good News Translation use the verb “attacked” in the first case to translate a verb that literally means “strike” or “hit” (King James Version “smote”). By adding the adverb “again” Good News Translation reminds the reader that this is not the first time that David had gone to war with the Philistines. After his first encounter with Goliath (1 Sam 17), David and his army fought with the Philistines frequently (see, for example, 1 Sam 18.27; 19.8; 23.5).

Took … out of the hand of: this expression shows the inevitable result of the defeat of the Philistines. They were no longer in control. Some other ways of saying this are “wrested … from the grip of” (see New Jerusalem Bible), “deprived them of their domination” (Bible en français courant), or “took control of” (New Century Version).

Metheg-ammah: the meaning of the term so translated is uncertain, since this is the only time it appears in the Old Testament. Metheg means “bridle,” and ammah means “one cubit.” Taken together as “the bridle of one cubit,” the word has no clear meaning. Some have suggested that this may allude to a custom of giving a one-cubit length of bridle as a sign of friendship or of surrender; but such a custom is not otherwise known. Revised Standard Version (as well as New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) take it as a name of a place that had belonged to the Philistines but which was taken over by David. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 18.1 has “Gath and its villages.” At least two English versions (New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible) leave a blank in the text at this point and explain the difficulty in a footnote (so also Osty-Trinquet). Other versions take the word to mean “the supremacy” (Anderson and similarly Moffatt and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “their capital city” (New Century Version and similarly An American Translation), or “the common land” (Anchor Bible and similarly Good News Translation). While it is impossible to be certain, translators should probably adopt the most general of these expressions and translate the idea of “dominance,” “superiority,” or “power,” while explaining in a footnote that all translations are a matter of speculation. Good News Translation provides a useful model, as does Bible en français courant, which reads “Later, David defeated the Philistines and humiliated them by ending their control over the region.”

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 .