1 Samuel 10:27

10:27 But some wicked men ¹  said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. ² 

1 Samuel 17:18

17:18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to their commanding officer. ³  Find out how your brothers are doing ⁴  and bring back their pledge that they received the goods. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 25:18

25:18 So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers ⁶  of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs ⁷  of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys

Kejadian 43:11

43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

Kejadian 43:2

43:2 When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Return, buy us a little more food.”

1 Samuel 16:1-2

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ⁸  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ⁹  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ¹⁰ 

16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you ¹¹  and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

Amsal 18:16

18:16 A person’s gift ¹²  makes room for him,

and leads him ¹³  before important people.

[10:27]  ¹ tn Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).

[10:27]  ² tc In place of the MT (“and it was like one being silent”) the LXX has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran ms of Samuel, which has here “about a month.” However, it seems best to stay with the MT here even though it is difficult.

[17:18]  ³ tn Heb “officer of the thousand.”

[17:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and your brothers, observe with respect to welfare.”

[17:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “and their pledge take.” This probably refers to some type of confirmation that the goods arrived safely. See R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 177. Cf. NIV “bring back some assurance”; NCV “some proof to show me they are all right”; NLT “bring me back a letter from them.”

[25:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “skins.”

[25:18]  ⁷ sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.

[16:1]  ⁸ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

[16:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in your hand.”

[18:16]  ¹² sn The Hebrew term translated “gift” is a more general term than “bribe” (שֹׁחַד, shokhad), used in 17:8, 23. But it also has danger (e.g., 15:27; 21:14), for by giving gifts one might learn how influential they are and use them for bribes. The proverb simply states that a gift can expedite matters.

[18:16]  ¹³ sn The two verbs here show a progression, helping to form the synthetic parallelism. The gift first “makes room” (יַרְחִיב, yarkhiv) for the person, that is, extending a place for him, and then “ushers him in” (יַנְחֵנּוּ, yakhenu) among the greats.