18:1 When David 1 had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan and David became bound together in close friendship. 2 Jonathan loved David as much as he did his own life. 3
13:6 Suppose your own full brother, 5 your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods 6 that neither you nor your ancestors 7 have previously known, 8
18:24 A person who has friends 9 may be harmed by them, 10
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “the soul of Jonathan was bound with the soul of David.”
3 tn Heb “like his [own] soul.”
sn On the nature of Jonathan’s love for David, see J. A. Thompson, “The Significance of the Verb Love in the David-Jonathan Narratives in 1 Samuel,” VT 24 (1974): 334-38.
4 tn Heb “like his [own] soul.”
5 tn Heb “your brother, the son of your mother.” In a polygamous society it was not rare to have half brothers and sisters by way of a common father and different mothers.
6 tn In the Hebrew text these words are in the form of a brief quotation: “entice you secretly saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods.’”
7 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 17).
8 tn Heb “which you have not known, you or your fathers.” (cf. KJV, ASV; on “fathers” cf. v. 18).
9 tc The construction is “a man of friends” (cf. NASB) meaning a man who has friends (a genitive of the thing possessed). C. H. Toy, however, suggests reading יֵשׁ (yesh) instead of אִישׁ (’ish), along with some of the Greek
10 tn The text simply has לְהִתְרֹעֵעַ (lÿhitro’ea’), which means “for being crushed” or “to be shattered” (but not “to show oneself friendly” as in the KJV). What can be made of the sentence is that “a man who has [many] friends [may have them] for being crushed” – the infinitive giving the result (i.e., “with the result that he may be crushed by them”).