1 Samuel 1:9

1:9 On one occasion in Shiloh, after they had finished eating and drinking, Hannah got up. ¹  (Now at the time Eli the priest was sitting in his chair ²  by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.)

1 Samuel 4:9-10

4:9 Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!”

4:10 So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated; they all ran home. ³  The slaughter was very great; thirty thousand foot soldiers fell in battle.

1 Samuel 5:7

5:7 When the people ⁴  of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, for he has attacked ⁵  both us and our god Dagon!”

1 Samuel 6:21

6:21 So they sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down here and take it back home with you.”

1 Samuel 7:12

7:12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. ⁶  He named it Ebenezer, ⁷  saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.”

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 11:4

11:4 When the messengers went to Gibeah (where Saul lived) ⁸  and informed the people of these matters, all the people wept loudly. ⁹ 

1 Samuel 13:4

13:4 All Israel heard this message, ¹⁰  “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel is repulsive ¹¹  to the Philistines!” So the people were summoned to join ¹²  Saul at Gilgal.

1 Samuel 13:7

13:7 Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan River ¹³  to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul stayed at Gilgal; the entire army that was with him was terrified.

1 Samuel 13:22

13:22 So on the day of the battle no sword or spear was to be found in the hand of anyone in the army that was with Saul and Jonathan. No one but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

1 Samuel 15:26

15:26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel!”

1 Samuel 16:10

16:10 Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel. ¹⁴  But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”

1 Samuel 16:16

16:16 Let our lord instruct his servants who are here before you to look for a man who knows how to play the lyre. Then whenever the evil spirit from God comes upon you, he can play the lyre ¹⁵  and you will feel better.” ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 16:23--17:1

16:23 So whenever the spirit from God would come upon Saul, David would take his lyre and play it. This would bring relief to Saul and make him feel better. Then the evil spirit would leave him alone. ¹⁷ 

David Kills Goliath

17:1 ¹⁸ The Philistines gathered their troops ¹⁹  for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

1 Samuel 17:17

17:17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take your brothers this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread; go quickly ²⁰  to the camp to your brothers.

1 Samuel 18:8

18:8 This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, ²¹  “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?”

1 Samuel 20:19

20:19 On the third day ²²  you should go down quickly ²³  and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. ²⁴  Stay near the stone Ezel.

1 Samuel 22:2-3

22:2 All those who were in trouble or owed someone money or were discontented ²⁵  gathered around ²⁶  him, and he became their leader. He had about four hundred men with him.

22:3 Then David went from there to Mizpah in Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay ²⁷  with you until I know what God is going to do for me.”

1 Samuel 23:19

23:19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Isn’t David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon?

1 Samuel 23:22

23:22 Go and make further arrangements. Determine precisely ²⁸  where he is ²⁹  and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning.

1 Samuel 24:12

24:12 May the Lord judge between the two of us, and may the Lord vindicate me over you, but my hand will not be against you.

1 Samuel 26:6

26:6 David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai replied, “I will go down with you.”

1 Samuel 30:11

30:11 Then they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave him bread to eat and water to drink.

1 Samuel 30:14

30:14 We conducted a raid on the Negev of the Kerethites, on the area of Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb. We burned Ziklag.” ³⁰ 

1 Samuel 30:23-24

30:23 But David said, “No! You shouldn’t do this, my brothers. Look at what the Lord has given us! ³¹  He has protected us and has delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. 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!”

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

[4:10]  ³ tn Heb “and they fled, each to his tents.”

[5:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “men.”

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “for his hand is severe upon.”

[7:12]  ⁶ tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”

[7:12]  ⁷ sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.

[11:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “to Gibeah of Saul.”

[11:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “lifted their voice and wept.”

[13:4]  ¹⁰ tn The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stinks.” The figurative language indicates that Israel had become repulsive to the Philistines.

[13:4]  ¹² tn Heb “were summoned after.”

[13:7]  ¹³ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[16:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “caused seven of his sons to pass before Samuel.” This could be taken as referring to seven sons in addition to the three mentioned before this, but 1 Sam 17:12 says Jesse had eight sons, not eleven. 1 Chr 2:13-15 lists only seven sons, including David. However, 1 Chr 27:18 mentions an additional son, named Elihu.

[16:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he will play with his hand.”

[16:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and it will be better for you.”

[16:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “would turn aside from upon him.”

[17:1]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “camps.”

[17:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “run.”

[18:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “said.” So also in vv. 11, 17.

[20:19]  ²² tc Heb “you will do [something] a third time.” The translation assumes an emendation of the verb from שִׁלַּשְׁתָּ (shillashta, “to do a third time”) to שִׁלִּישִׁית (shillishit, “[on the] third [day]”).

[20:19]  ²³ tn Heb “you must go down greatly.” See Judg 19:11 for the same idiom.

[20:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2.

[22:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “bitter of soul.”

[22:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to.”

[22:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “go forth.”

[23:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “know and see.” The expression is a hendiadys. See also v. 23.

[23:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “his place where his foot is.”

[30:14]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”

[30:23]  ³¹ tc This clause is difficult in the MT. The present translation accepts the text as found in the MT and understands this clause to be elliptical, with an understood verb such as “look” or “consider.” On the other hand, the LXX seems to reflect a slightly different Hebrew text, reading “after” where the MT has “my brothers.” The Greek translation yields the following translation: “You should not do this after the Lord has delivered us.” Although the Greek reading should be taken seriously, it seems better to follow the MT here.