In order to avoid the use of the passive were restored, it may be necessary in some languages to supply the implied agent, Yahweh. The translation of the first part of this verse will then be “The LORD restored to Israel all the cities that the Philistines had taken from them.”
Ekron and Gath: on the geographic location of these cities, see the comments on 5.8. It is not at all clear how the words from Ekron to Gath are to be understood in this context. Perhaps they mean that the Israelites recaptured these two cities, which had been given to the tribes of Judah and Dan in the time of Joshua. More likely the sense is that Ekron and Gath are the north and south points of a line. The Israelites recovered territory going as far west as that line, extending as far north as Ekron and as far south as Gath. This may be translated “The Israelites captured all the cities that the Philistines had taken from them, right up to the Philistine border extending from Ekron to Gath.”
The verbs were restored and rescued may seem to refer to the same event; that is, by restoring these cities to Israel, Israel rescued the territory that had belonged to Israel. The pronoun suffix their on the Hebrew noun territory is feminine plural, referring to the Philistine cities that have been captured. Their territory means “the territory around the cities.” The pronoun their does not refer to Israel, as in Good News Translation, but to the cities. The restoration of land apparently took place in two stages: first the cities, and then the territories around those cities. So the second clause may be rendered “and the people of Israel also rescued the land around the cities from Philistine control.” Other translations that make this meaning clear include “The cities the Philistines had taken from Israel returned to her, from Ekron to Gath. Israel delivered the territory [belonging to these cities] from the hand of the Philistines” (Klein) and “Israel also freed the territory of these cities from the dominion of the Philistines” (New American Bible).
On the metaphorical use of hand of, see the comment on 4.8.
Since the Philistines and the Amorites were different groups, it is important that the word also be properly emphasized.
The Amorites were one of the groups of people who lived in Palestine and in the regions east of the Jordan River before the conquest by the Israelites. Often the term is used as a synonym for Canaanites. In this verse Good News Translation uses “Canaanites,” which is the more widely known name in English. If translators retain the name Amorites, they may wish to explain this name in a Word List (as, for example, in Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
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 .