Therefore: while the Hebrew text has only the common conjunction, the context requires some kind of logical (“So”) or temporal (“Then”) connector.

All the lords of the Philistines: see the comments on verse 8. Since this is now the second time that the people have sent for the lords of the Philistines, Good News Translation adds the word “again [they sent].”

The two statements Send away the ark and let it return to its own place do not refer to two different actions, and the second may sound quite unnatural if translated literally. So the two may be combined into a single clause (as in Good News Translation) or connected in such a way as to avoid giving the impression that two different actions are intended: “send the ark … from us to the place where it belongs.”

Us and our people: literally “me and my people.” See the comments on verse 10.

A deathly panic: a better rendering of the traditional Hebrew text is “a deadly panic” (An American Translation, New American Bible) or “a mortal panic” (New Jerusalem Bible). But some manuscript evidence has “a panic from the LORD,” although no modern version has been found that follows this reading. Probably a better common-language rendering of the traditional text is “death and destruction” (Revised English Bible).

The whole city: that is, the city of Ekron.

The hand of God was heavy: on the meaning and translation of this Hebrew idiom, see the comments on verse 6.

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 .