complete verse (2 Samuel 5:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 5:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then David said, ‘For us to fight this people, we have to follow the channel that water of this town flows through and we go and stab/kill those enemies who are blind and lame.’ That is where the word/saying which was said began from (saying) that, ‘People who are blind will never enter inside the house and the people who are lame.’ Even if it is like that, David took the home/house which was guarded well on the mountain of Zion, where it was later called City of David. David made/repaired/renovated that city beginning from Millo and round there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “David went, and living in the fortress, started calling it "The City of David." David made city inside fortress with supporting terraces.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “After David took-over/took-by-force Zion, he settled there, and he called it the City of David. He added-to this a wall around from the lower part of the town.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “After David and his soldiers captured the city with its strong walls around it, he lived there, and they named it ‘David’s City’. David and his soldiers built the city around the fortress, starting where the land was filled in/terraces on the east side of the hill.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

David

The name that is transliterated as “David” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign signifying king and a sling (referring to 1 Samuel 17:49 and 2 Samuel 5:4). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Elizabeth” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In German Sign Language it is only the sling. (See here ).


“David” in German Sign Language (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

The (Protestant) Mandarin Chinese transliteration of “David” is 大卫 (衛) / Dàwèi which carries an additional meaning of “Great Protector.”

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about David (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: David .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 5:9

Note that Good News Translation supplies the implied information that the events described in this verse took place after David and his men captured the fortress. This may be a more natural way of rendering the idea of this verse in some other languages.

Stronghold: see verse 7 above. But note that in this case the qualifying “of Zion” does not appear.

From the Millo inward: the “Millo” is referred to in Judges 9.6, 20; 1 Kgs 9.15, 24; 11.27; 2 Kgs 12.20; and 2 Chr 32.5, as well as in the parallel passage at 1 Chr 11.8. The footnote in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh indicates that this refers to “a citadel” (in agreement with the rendering in the Septuagint), but several commentaries and translations suggest that it refers to some kind of landfill. The meaning of the Hebrew word milloʾ is uncertain, though most connect it to a verb meaning “to be full.”

Anchor Bible says “this must refer to a major earth-work of some kind, a rampart perhaps or a platform produced by filling a ravine…” (page 141). According to 1 Kgs 9.15, 24; and 11.27, it was Solomon who built the Millo, but those references may be understood in the sense of “rebuilt” or perhaps “enlarged.” Anderson speaks of a “system of artificial terraces supported by retaining walls with leveled filling…” (page 85). Thus New International Version translates “supporting terraces.”

Even if the Millo does refer to a landfill of some kind, archaeologists are not agreed on the location of this fill. Some believe it refers to terraces built on the east side of the east ridge, which is probably the basis of the Good News Translation translation “on the east side of the hill.” Others consider it to be an landfill south of the Temple mount on the southeast hill, or to be an landfill connecting the city of David to the acropolis to the north.

Inward: Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates “towards the interior.” But this does not answer the question, Toward the interior of what? The word may also be translated “towards the house” (Anderson). And this in turn may mean either “to the [royal] palace” (New American Bible) or “toward the Temple.” To further complicate matters Good News Translation translates this “on the east side of the hill.”

As the above discussion indicates, there is no firm agreement by specialists on exactly what David did. Translators must nevertheless make a decision. Recent archaeological studies point most strongly to understanding the last part of this verse as referring to the repairing of terraces on the steep east side of the southeast ridge. At the time when David captured the city, the wall on the east side was some 48 meters (156 feet) down from the top of the ridge. The Good News Translation translation therefore has much to commend it.

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 .