There was again war: marking a new episode in the series of stories of giant-killing.

Gob: a few manuscripts of the ancient Greek version have “Gezeth” here, and this closely corresponds to Gezer, which is found in the parallel passage in 1 Chr 20.4. Gob is mentioned as the site of the killing of another giant in the following verse. Anchor Bible has “Gezer” here, but it is virtually alone in adopting this reading. Translators should probably stay with the Masoretic Text at this point. Probably Gob refers to a village, but its location is not known today.

Sibbecai the Hushathite was from the village of Hushah, located in the hills of the territory of Judah, a few kilometers southwest of Bethlehem. He is mentioned also in 1 Chr 11.29 and possibly also in 2 Sam 23.27.

Saph: the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles has “Sippai,” which is actually a variant of the name Saph. Translators may legitimately use the same spelling of the name in both cases.

One of the descendants of the giants: see the comments at verse 16 above, where the same words occur. In the context where another giant has already been mentioned, it may be more natural to speak of “another descendant of the giants.”

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 .