David smote them: though the writer mentions only David, the sense is that David and his troops attacked and defeated them, since his troops are explicitly mentioned in verse 20 (see the comments on 19.8).

From twilight: the word so translated may be understood as referring to the time of day when there is imperfect light, just before sunrise or just after sunset. The English word “twilight” usually refers more specifically to the time just after sunset, and this is the usual sense of this word in the Old Testament. According to the Revised Standard Version (and New Revised Standard Version) rendering, readers will therefore have the impression that the battle began just after sunset one day and continued until the evening of the next day (literally “their next day”). The majority of versions, however, take this term to refer to the time just before sunrise. The fighting would therefore have lasted throughout the daylight hours of a single day (Good News Translation, New American Bible, Contemporary English Version, Nueva Biblia Española), or possibly “from before dawn until the evening of the next day” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; similarly Bible en français courant and New Jerusalem Bible). Since a new day began for the Israelites at sunset, the evening of the next day will refer to the evening after the battle of that day. That evening is the beginning of the next day for the Israelites. The only question is whether the battle began early that morning or the previous evening. The recommendation of this handbook is to translate “from dawn….”

Escaped: see the comments on 19.10.

Camels (see also 15.3 and 27.9) are unknown in some parts of the world. In languages that do not have a word for camels, it may be necessary to borrow the word from a major language known to speakers of the receptor language and to say “they mounted on animals called camels and fled.”

Some interpreters propose that the Hebrew text should be changed to read “From dawn to sundown David attacked them, putting them under the ban so that none escaped…” (New American Bible and early editions of Bible de Jérusalem). This proposed change is not widely accepted, and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament does not even discuss this problem since this is not a textual problem. New American Bible and the other translations mentioned are based on conjectures about what the Hebrew text probably read.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .