1 Samuel 1:18

1:18 She said, “May I, your servant, find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and got something to eat. ¹  Her face no longer looked sad.

1 Samuel 1:26

1:26 She said, “Just as surely as you are alive, my lord, I am the woman who previously stood here with you in order to pray to the Lord.

1 Samuel 2:5

2:5 Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food,

but the hungry no longer lack.

Even ²  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ³ 

but the one with many children withers away. ⁴ 

1 Samuel 2:20

2:20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord raise up for you descendants ⁵  from this woman to replace the one that she ⁶  dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go to their ⁷  home.

1 Samuel 2:32-33

2:32 You will see trouble in my dwelling place! ⁸  Israel will experience blessings, ⁹  but there will not be an old man in your ¹⁰  house for all time. ¹¹  2:33 Any one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause your ¹²  eyes to fail ¹³  and will cause you grief. ¹⁴  All of those born to your family ¹⁵  will die in the prime of life. ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 3:13

3:13 You ¹⁷  should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of ¹⁸  the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God, ¹⁹  and he did not rebuke them.

1 Samuel 3:18

3:18 So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli ²⁰  said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” ²¹ 

1 Samuel 3:20

3:20 All Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba realized that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.

1 Samuel 6:6

6:6 Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? ²²  When God ²³  treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way? ²⁴ 

1 Samuel 9:5

9:5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come on, let’s head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!”

1 Samuel 9:22

9:22 Then Samuel brought ²⁵  Saul and his servant into the room and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited. There were about thirty people present.

1 Samuel 10:19

10:19 But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No! ²⁶  Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”

1 Samuel 10:23

10:23 So they ran and brought him from there. When he took his position among the people, he stood head and shoulders above them all.

1 Samuel 13:12

13:12 I thought, ²⁷  ‘Now the Philistines will come down on me at Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt obligated ²⁸  to offer the burnt offering.”

1 Samuel 13:15

13:15 Then Samuel set out and went up from Gilgal ²⁹  to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. ³⁰  Saul mustered the army that remained with him; there were about six hundred men.

1 Samuel 14:2

14:2 Now Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree in Migron, on the outskirts of Gibeah. The army that was with him numbered about six hundred men.

1 Samuel 14:15

14:15 Then fear overwhelmed ³¹  those who were in the camp, those who were in the field, all the army in the garrison, and the raiding bands. They trembled and the ground shook. This fear was caused by God. ³² 

1 Samuel 14:17

14:17 So Saul said to the army that was with him, “Muster the troops and see who is no longer with us.” When they mustered the troops, ³³  Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.

1 Samuel 15:20

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ³⁴  the Lord! I went on the campaign ³⁵  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 16:3

16:3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you should do. You will anoint for me the one I point out ³⁶  to you.”

1 Samuel 17:3

17:3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites ³⁷  on another hill, with the valley between them.

1 Samuel 17:18

17:18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to their commanding officer. ³⁸  Find out how your brothers are doing ³⁹  and bring back their pledge that they received the goods. ⁴⁰ 

1 Samuel 17:35

17:35 I would go out after it, strike it down, and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose up against me, I would grab it by its jaw, strike it, and kill it.

1 Samuel 17:38

17:38 Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a bronze helmet on his head. He also put body armor on him.

1 Samuel 17:55

17:55 ⁴¹ Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”

1 Samuel 18:11

18:11 and Saul threw the spear, thinking, “I’ll nail David to the wall!” But David escaped from him on two different occasions.

1 Samuel 18:30

18:30 ⁴²  Then the leaders of the Philistines would march out, and as often as they did so, David achieved more success than all of Saul’s servants. His name was held in high esteem.

1 Samuel 19:18

19:18 Now David had run away and escaped. He went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.

1 Samuel 20:1

Jonathan Seeks to Protect David

20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, ⁴³  “What have I done? What is my offense? ⁴⁴  How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”

1 Samuel 22:1

David Goes to Adullam and Mizpah

22:1 So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family ⁴⁵  learned about it, they went down there to him.

1 Samuel 22:5

22:5 Then Gad the prophet said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Go to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

1 Samuel 23:3

23:3 But David’s men said to him, “We are afraid while we are still here in Judah! What will it be like if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

1 Samuel 23:25

23:25 Saul and his men went to look for him. ⁴⁶  But David was informed and went down to the rock and stayed in the desert of Maon. When Saul heard about it, he pursued David in the desert of Maon.

1 Samuel 24:9

24:9 David said to Saul, “Why do you pay attention when men say, ‘David is seeking to do you harm’?

1 Samuel 24:18

24:18 You have explained today how you have treated me well. The Lord delivered me into your hand, but you did not kill me.

1 Samuel 25:28

25:28 Please forgive the sin of your servant, for the Lord will certainly establish the house of my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord. May no evil be found in you all your days!

1 Samuel 25:30

25:30 The Lord will do for my lord everything that he promised you, ⁴⁷  and he will make ⁴⁸  you a leader over Israel.

1 Samuel 26:3

26:3 Saul camped by the road on the hill of Hakilah near Jeshimon, but David was staying in the desert. When he realized that Saul had come to the desert to find ⁴⁹  him,

1 Samuel 26:20

26:20 Now don’t let my blood fall to the ground away from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a flea the way one looks for a partridge ⁵⁰  in the hill country.”

1 Samuel 28:20

28:20 Saul quickly fell full length on the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words. He was completely drained of energy, ⁵¹  not having eaten anything ⁵²  all that day and night.

1 Samuel 29:11

29:11 So David and his men got up early in the morning to return ⁵³  to the land of the Philistines, but the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

[1:18]  ¹ tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack the words “and got something to eat.”

[2:5]  ² tc Against BHS but with the MT, the preposition (עַד, ’ad) should be taken with what follows rather than with what precedes. For this sense of the preposition see Job 25:5.

[2:5]  ³ sn The number seven is used here in an ideal sense. Elsewhere in the OT having seven children is evidence of fertility as a result of God’s blessing on the family. See, for example, Jer 15:9, Ruth 4:15.

[2:5]  ⁴ tn Or “languishes.”

[2:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “seed.”

[2:20]  ⁶ tn The MT has a masculine verb here, but in light of the context the reference must be to Hannah. It is possible that the text of the MT is incorrect here (cf. the ancient versions), in which case the text should be changed to read either a passive participle or better, the third feminine singular of the verb. If the MT is correct here, perhaps the masculine is to be understood in a nonspecific and impersonal way, allowing for a feminine antecedent. In any case, the syntax of the MT is unusual here.

[2:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “his.”

[2:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “you will see [the] trouble of [the] dwelling place.” Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun is supplied in the translation (see v. 29).

[2:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”

[2:32]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.

[2:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all the days.”

[2:33]  ¹² tc The LXX, a Qumran ms, and a few old Latin mss have the third person pronominal suffix “his” here.

[2:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “to cause your eyes to fail.” Elsewhere this verb, when used of eyes, refers to bloodshot eyes resulting from weeping, prolonged staring, or illness (see Lev 26:16; Pss 69:3; 119:82; Lam 2:11; 4:17).

[2:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and to cause your soul grief.”

[2:33]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and all the increase of your house.”

[2:33]  ¹⁶ tc The text is difficult. The MT literally says “they will die [as] men.” Apparently the meaning is that they will be cut off in the prime of their life without reaching old age. The LXX and a Qumran ms, however, have the additional word “sword” (“they will die by the sword of men”). This is an easier reading (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), but that fact is not in favor of its originality.

[3:13]  ¹⁷ tc The MT has וְהִגַּדְתִּי לוֹ (vÿhiggadti lo). The verb is Hiphil perfect 1st person common singular, and apparently the conjunction should be understood as vav consecutive (“I will say to him”). But the future reference makes more sense if Samuel is the subject. This would require dropping the final י (yod) and reading the 2nd person masculine singular וְהִגַּדְתָּ (vÿhiggadta). Although there is no external evidence to support it, this reading has been adopted in the present translation. The alternative is to understand the MT to mean “I said to him,” but for this we would expect the preterite with vav consecutive.

[3:13]  ¹⁸ tn The translation understands the preposition to have a causal sense. However, the preposition could also be understood as the beth pretii, indicating in a broad sense the price attached to this action. So GKC 380 §119.p.

[3:13]  ¹⁹ tc The translation follows the LXX θεόν (qeon, “God”) rather than the MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”). The MT seems to mean “they were bringing a curse on themselves” (cf. ASV, NASB). But this meaning is problematic in part because the verb qll means “to curse,” not “to bring a curse on,” and in part because it takes an accusative object rather than the equivalent of a dative. This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” Why would the ancient copyists alter the original statement about Eli’s sons cursing God to the less objectionable statement that they brought a curse on themselves? Some argue that the scribes were concerned that such a direct and blasphemous affront against God could occur without an immediate response of judgment from God. Therefore they changed the text by deleting two letters א and י (alef and yod) from the word for “God,” with the result that the text then read “to them.” If this ancient scribal claim is accepted as accurate, it implies that the MT here is secondary. The present translation follows the LXX (κακολογοῦντες θεόν, kakologounte" qeon) and a few mss of the Old Latin in reading “God” rather than the MT “to them.” Cf. also NAB, NRSV, NLT.

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

[6:6]  ²² tn Heb “like Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their heart.”

[6:6]  ²³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and they sent them away and they went.”

[9:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “took and brought.”

[10:19]  ²⁶ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading לֹא (lo’, “not”) rather than the MT לוֹ (lo; “to him”). Some witnesses combine the variants, resulting in a conflated text. For example, a few medieval Hebrew mss have לֹא לוֹ (lo lo’; “to him, ‘No.’”). A few others have לֹא לִי (li lo’; “to me, ‘No.’”).

[13:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “said.”

[13:12]  ²⁸ tn Or “I forced myself” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, CEV); NAB “So in my anxiety I offered”; NIV “I felt compelled.”

[13:15]  ²⁹ tc The LXX and two Old Latin mss include the following words here: “on his way. And the rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the warring army. When they arrived from Gilgal….”

[13:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “at Gibeah of Benjamin.” The words “in the territory” are supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).

[14:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “fell upon.”

[14:15]  ³² tn Heb “and it was by the fear of God.” The translation understands this to mean that God was the source or cause of the fear experienced by the Philistines. This seems to be the most straightforward reading of the sentence. It is possible, however, that the word “God” functions here simply to intensify the accompanying word “fear,” in which one might translate “a very great fear” (cf. NAB, NRSV). It is clear that on some occasions that the divine name carries such a superlative nuance. For examples see Joüon 2:525 §141.n.

[14:17]  ³³ tn Heb “and they mustered the troops, and look!”

[15:20]  ³⁴ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ³⁵ tn Heb “journey.”

[16:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “say”; KJV, NRSV “name”; NIV “indicate.”

[17:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Israel.”

[17:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “officer of the thousand.”

[17:18]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and your brothers, observe with respect to welfare.”

[17:18]  ⁴⁰ 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.”

[17:55]  ⁴¹ tc Most LXX mss lack 17:55–18:5.

[18:30]  ⁴² tc Verse 30 is absent in most LXX mss.

[20:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”

[20:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “What is my guilt?”

[22:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[23:25]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “to search.”

[25:30]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “according to all which he spoke, the good concerning you.”

[25:30]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “appoint.”

[26:3]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “after.”

[26:20]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “the calling [one],” which apparently refers to a partridge.

[28:20]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “also there was no strength in him.”

[28:20]  ⁵² tn Heb “food.”

[29:11]  ⁵³ tc Heb “to go in the morning to return.” With the exception of Origen and the Lucianic recension, the Old Greek tradition lacks the phrase “in the morning.” The Syriac Peshitta also omits it.