1 Samuel 1:8-9

1:8 Finally her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and not eat? Why are you so sad? ¹  Am I not better to you than ten ²  sons?”

1:9 On one occasion in Shiloh, after they had finished eating and drinking, Hannah got up. ³  (Now at the time Eli the priest was sitting in his chair ⁴  by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.)

1 Samuel 1:15

1:15 But Hannah replied, “That’s not the way it is, ⁵  my lord! I am under a great deal of stress. ⁶  I have drunk neither wine nor beer. Rather, I have poured out my soul to ⁷  the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:22

1:22 but Hannah did not go up with them. ⁸  Instead she told her husband, “Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him and appear before the Lord, and he will remain there from then on.”

1 Samuel 2:5

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

but the hungry no longer lack.

Even ⁹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ¹⁰ 

but the one with many children withers away. ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 2:32

2:32 You will see trouble in my dwelling place! ¹²  Israel will experience blessings, ¹³  but there will not be an old man in your ¹⁴  house for all time. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 3:13-14

3:13 You ¹⁶  should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of ¹⁷  the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God, ¹⁸  and he did not rebuke them. 3:14 Therefore I swore an oath to the house of Eli, ‘The sin of the house of Eli can never be forgiven by sacrifice or by grain offering.’”

1 Samuel 3:18

3:18 So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli ¹⁹  said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” ²⁰ 

1 Samuel 4:10

4:10 So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated; they all ran home. ²¹  The slaughter was very great; thirty thousand foot soldiers fell in battle.

1 Samuel 6:20

6:20 The residents of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark ²²  go up from here?”

1 Samuel 7:9

7:9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb ²³  and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

1 Samuel 10:6

10:6 Then the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.

1 Samuel 10:10

10:10 When Saul and his servant ²⁴  arrived at Gibeah, a company of prophets was coming out to meet him. Then the spirit of God rushed upon Saul ²⁵  and he prophesied among them.

1 Samuel 10:12

10:12 A man who was from there replied, “And who is their father?” Therefore this became a proverb: “Is even Saul among the prophets?”

1 Samuel 10:14

10:14 Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?” Saul ²⁶  replied, “To look for the donkeys. But when we realized they were lost, ²⁷  we went to Samuel.”

1 Samuel 10:23-24

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. 10:24 Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? Indeed, there is no one like him among all the people!” All the people shouted out, “Long live the king!”

1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ²⁸ Nahash ²⁹  the Ammonite marched ³⁰  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

1 Samuel 11:5

11:5 Now Saul was walking behind the ³¹  oxen as he came from the field. Saul asked, “What has happened to the people? Why are they weeping?” So they told him about ³²  the men of Jabesh.

1 Samuel 12:9

12:9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave ³³  them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s ³⁴  army, ³⁵  and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

1 Samuel 12:20

12:20 Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed sinned. ³⁶  However, don’t turn aside from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart.

1 Samuel 14:1

14:1 Then one day Jonathan son of Saul said to his armor bearer, ³⁷  “Come on, let’s go over to the Philistine garrison that is opposite us.” But he did not let his father know.

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, ³⁸  Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.

1 Samuel 14:33

14:33 Now it was reported to Saul, “Look, the army is sinning against the Lord by eating even the blood.” He said, “All of you have broken the covenant! ³⁹  Roll a large stone over here to me.”

1 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ⁴⁰  Israel along the way when Israel ⁴¹  came up from Egypt.

1 Samuel 15:18

15:18 The Lord sent you on a campaign ⁴²  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ⁴³  have destroyed them.’

1 Samuel 16:11

16:11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Is that all of the young men?” Jesse ⁴⁴  replied, “There is still the youngest one, but he’s taking care of the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we cannot turn our attention to other things until he comes here.”

1 Samuel 17:1

David Kills Goliath

17:1 ⁴⁵ The Philistines gathered their troops ⁴⁶  for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

1 Samuel 17:12

17:12 ⁴⁷ Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem ⁴⁸  in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. ⁴⁹ 

1 Samuel 17:33

17:33 But Saul replied to David, “You aren’t able to go against this Philistine and fight him! You’re just a boy! He has been a warrior from his youth!”

1 Samuel 17:39

17:39 David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them. ⁵⁰  David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them.

1 Samuel 18:23

18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately ⁵¹  to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”

1 Samuel 19:22

19:22 Finally Saul ⁵²  himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the large cistern that is in Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” They said, “At Naioth in Ramah.”

1 Samuel 20:1

Jonathan Seeks to Protect David

20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, ⁵³  “What have I done? What is my offense? ⁵⁴  How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”

1 Samuel 20:6

20:6 If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go ⁵⁵  to his city Bethlehem, ⁵⁶  for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’

1 Samuel 20:34

20:34 Jonathan got up from the table enraged. He did not eat any food on that second day of the new moon, for he was upset that his father had humiliated David. ⁵⁷ 

1 Samuel 21:8

21:8 David said to Ahimelech, “Is there no sword or spear here at your disposal? I don’t have my own sword or equipment in hand due to the urgency of the king’s instructions.”

1 Samuel 24:19

24:19 Now if a man finds his enemy, does he send him on his way in good shape? May the Lord repay you with good this day for what you have done to me.

1 Samuel 25:15

25:15 These men were very good to us. They did not insult us, nor did we sustain any loss during the entire time we were together ⁵⁸  in the field.

1 Samuel 27:10

27:10 When Achish would ask, “Where ⁵⁹  did you raid today?” David would say, “The Negev of Judah” or “The Negev of Jeharmeel” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”

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, ⁶⁰  not having eaten anything ⁶¹  all that day and night.

1 Samuel 29:9

29:9 Achish replied to David, “I am convinced that you are as reliable ⁶²  as the angel of God! However, the leaders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us in the battle.’

1 Samuel 30:19

30:19 There was nothing missing, whether small or great. He retrieved sons and daughters, the plunder, and everything else they had taken. ⁶³  David brought everything back.

1 Samuel 30:24

30:24 Who will listen to you in this matter? The portion of the one who went down into the battle will be the same as the portion of the one who remained with the equipment! Let their portions be the same!”

[1:8]  ¹ tn Heb “why is your heart displeased?”

[1:8]  ² sn Like the number seven, the number ten is sometimes used in the OT as an ideal number (see, for example, Dan 1:20, Zech 8:23).

[1:9]  ³ tc The LXX adds “and stood before the Lord,” but this is probably a textual expansion due to the terseness of the statement in the Hebrew text.

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps, “on his throne.” See Joüon 2:506-7 §137.f.

[1:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “No.”

[1:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “I am a woman difficult of spirit.” The LXX has “for whom the day is difficult,” apparently mistaking the Hebrew word for “spirit” רוּחַ (ruakh) to be the word for “day” יוֹם (yom).

[1:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “before.”

[1:22]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive here. The words “with them” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:5]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Or “languishes.”

[2:32]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”

[2:32]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.

[2:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the days.”

[3:13]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

[4:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “and they fled, each to his tents.”

[6:20]  ²² tn Heb “he” or “it”; the referent here (the ark) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. also NIV, CEV, NLT). Others, however, take the referent to be the Lord himself.

[7:9]  ²³ tn Heb “a lamb of milk”; NAB “an unweaned lamb”; NIV “a suckling lamb”; NCV “a baby lamb.”

[10:10]  ²⁴ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “he” (in which case the referent would be Saul alone).

[10:10]  tn Heb “they”; the referents (Saul and his servant) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “And we saw that they were not.”

[11:1]  ²⁸ tc 4QSam^a and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.

[11:1]  ²⁹ sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

[11:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”

[11:5]  ³¹ tn Or perhaps, “his oxen.” On this use of the definite article see Joüon 2:506-7 §137.f.

[11:5]  ³² tn Heb “the matters of.”

[12:9]  ³³ tn Heb “sold” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; NLT “he let them be conquered by Sisera.”

[12:9]  ³⁴ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[12:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.”

[12:20]  ³⁶ tn Heb “you have done all this evil.”

[14:1]  ³⁷ tn Or “the servant who was carrying his military equipment” (likewise in vv. 6, 7, 12, 13, 14).

[14:17]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and they mustered the troops, and look!”

[14:33]  ³⁹ tn Heb “You have acted deceptively.” In this context the verb refers to violating an agreement, in this case the dietary and sacrificial regulations of the Mosaic law. The verb form is second masculine plural; apparently Saul here addresses those who are eating the animals.

[15:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

[15:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:18]  ⁴² tn Heb “journey.”

[15:18]  ⁴³ tc The translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum in reading the second person singular suffix (“you”) rather than the third person plural suffix of the MT (“they”).

[16:11]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jesse) has been specified in the translation both here and in v. 12 for clarity.

[17:1]  ⁴⁵ tc The content of 1 Sam 17–18, which includes the David and Goliath story, differs considerably in the LXX as compared to the MT, suggesting that this story circulated in ancient times in more than one form. The LXX for chs. 17–18 is much shorter than the MT, lacking almost half of the material (39 of a total of 88 verses). Many scholars (e.g., McCarter, Klein) think that the shorter text of the LXX is preferable to the MT, which in their view has been expanded by incorporation of later material. Other scholars (e.g., Wellhausen, Driver) conclude that the shorter Greek text (or the Hebrew text that underlies it) reflects an attempt to harmonize certain alleged inconsistencies that appear in the longer version of the story. Given the translation characteristics of the LXX elsewhere in this section, it does not seem likely that these differences are due to deliberate omission of these verses on the part of the translator. It seems more likely that the Greek translator has faithfully rendered here a Hebrew text that itself was much shorter than the MT in these chapters. Whether or not the shorter text represented by the LXX is to be preferred over the MT in 1 Sam 17–18 is a matter over which textual scholars are divided. For a helpful discussion of the major textual issues in this unit see D. Barthélemy, D. W. Gooding, J. Lust, and E. Tov, The Story of David and Goliath (OBO). Overall it seems preferable to stay with the MT, at least for the most part. However, the major textual differences between the LXX and the MT will be mentioned in the notes that accompany the translation so that the reader may be alert to the major problem passages.

[17:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “camps.”

[17:12]  ⁴⁷ tc Some mss of the LXX lack vv. 12-31.

[17:12]  ⁴⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[17:12]  ⁴⁹ tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”

[17:39]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “he had not tested.”

[18:23]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “in the ears of.”

[19:22]  ⁵² tn Heb “he” (also in v. 23). the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:1]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”

[20:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “What is my guilt?”

[20:6]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “to run.”

[20:6]  ⁵⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[20:34]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “for he was upset concerning David for his father had humiliated him.” The referent of the pronoun “him” is not entirely clear, but the phrase “concerning David” suggests that it refers to David, rather than Jonathan.

[25:15]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “all the days we walked about with them when we were.”

[27:10]  ⁵⁹ tc The translation follows the LXX (ἐπι τίνα, epi tina) and Vulgate (in quem) which assume אֶל מִי (’el mi, “to whom”) rather than the MT אַל (’al, “not”). The MT makes no sense here. Another possibility is that the text originally had אַן (’an, “where”), which has been distorted in the MT to אַל. Cf. the Syriac Peshitta and the Targum, which have “where.”

[28:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “also there was no strength in him.”

[28:20]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “food.”

[29:9]  ⁶² tn Heb “I know that you are good in my eyes.”

[30:19]  ⁶³ tn Heb “there was nothing missing to them, from the small even unto the great, and unto sons and daughters, and from loot even unto all which they had taken for themselves.”