Now: another translation of the common Hebrew conjunction, which may just as well be left untranslated in this context.

Spread out: here and in verse 22 the verb used has the idea of expansion and indicates that they covered the entire territory. Revised English Bible and New American Bible use the verb “overrun.” Translators should be careful to avoid translating this verb in such a way as to give the impression that the troops dispersed in fear. The idea is rather that they took up their positions all over the valley, not that they separated from each other in disarray. Several modern versions use the technical military term “deployed” (New Jerusalem Bible, La Bible du Semeur, Bible en français courant).

The valley of Rephaim: this broad valley or plain is located about five kilometers to the southwest of Jerusalem. Since the word Rephaim means “giants” in some contexts (see, for example, Deut 2.10-11; 2 Sam 21.16), this is sometimes translated “Valley of Giants” (King James Version margin, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). If translators choose to translate the meaning of the Hebrew rephaim as in Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, they should be consistent and use the same translation in verse 22 and in 23.13.

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 .