1 Samuel 1:1

Hannah Gives Birth to Samuel

1:1 There was a man from Ramathaim Zophim, ¹  from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

1 Samuel 1:15

1:15 But Hannah replied, “That’s not the way it is, ²  my lord! I am under a great deal of stress. ³  I have drunk neither wine nor beer. Rather, I have poured out my soul to ⁴  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 ⁵  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ⁶ 

but the one with many children withers away. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 2:19

2:19 His mother used to make him a small robe and bring it up to him at regular intervals when she would go up with her husband to make the annual sacrifice.

1 Samuel 2:33

2:33 Any one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause your ⁸  eyes to fail ⁹  and will cause you grief. ¹⁰  All of those born to your family ¹¹  will die in the prime of life. ¹² 

1 Samuel 4:20

4:20 As she was dying, the women who were there with her said, “Don’t be afraid! You have given birth to a son!” But she did not reply or pay any attention. ¹³ 

1 Samuel 6:5

6:5 You should make images of the sores and images of the mice ¹⁴  that are destroying the land. You should honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his grip on you, your gods, and your land. ¹⁵ 

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 8:12

8:12 He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, ¹⁶  as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment.

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 12:23

12:23 As far as I am concerned, far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the way that is good and upright.

1 Samuel 14:14

14:14 In this initial skirmish Jonathan and his armor bearer struck down about twenty men in an area that measured half an acre.

1 Samuel 14:30

14:30 Certainly if the army had eaten some of the enemies’ provisions that they came across today, would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”

1 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ¹⁷  Israel along the way when Israel ¹⁸  came up from Egypt.

1 Samuel 15:24

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ¹⁹  and what you said as well. ²⁰  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ²¹ 

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 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 20:31

20:31 For as long as ²⁵  this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men ²⁶  and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” ²⁷ 

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 23:19

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 24:15

24:15 May the Lord be our judge and arbiter. May he see and arbitrate my case and deliver me from your hands!”

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 25:25

25:25 My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man Nabal. He simply lives up to his name! His name means ‘fool,’ and he is indeed foolish! ²⁸  But I, your servant, did not see the servants my lord sent. ²⁹ 

1 Samuel 26:9

26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill him! Who can extend his hand against the Lord’s chosen one ³⁰  and remain guiltless?”

1 Samuel 26:11

26:11 But may the Lord prevent me from extending my hand against the Lord’s chosen one! Now take the spear by Saul’s head and the jug of water, and let’s get out of here!”

1 Samuel 26:23-24

26:23 The Lord rewards each man for his integrity and loyalty. ³¹  Even though today the Lord delivered you into my hand, I was not willing to extend my hand against the Lord’s chosen one. 26:24 In the same way that I valued your life this day, ³²  may the Lord value my life ³³  and deliver me from all danger.”

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.” ³⁴ 

1 Samuel 30:20

30:20 David took all the flocks and herds and drove them in front of the rest of the animals. People were saying, “This is David’s plunder!”

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 Samuel 30:26

30:26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah who were his friends, saying, “Here’s a gift ³⁵  for you from the looting of the Lord’s enemies!”

1 Samuel 31:9

31:9 They cut off Saul’s ³⁶  head and stripped him of his armor. They sent messengers to announce the news in the temple of their idols and among their people throughout the surrounding land of the Philistines.

[1:1]  ¹ tc The translation follows the MT. The LXX reads “a man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite”; this is followed by a number of recent English translations. It is possible the MT reading צוֹפִים (tsofim) arose from dittography of the mem (מ) at the beginning of the following word.

[1:15]  ² tn Heb “No.”

[1:15]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “before.”

[2:5]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “languishes.”

[2:33]  ⁸ tc The LXX, a Qumran ms, and a few old Latin mss have the third person pronominal suffix “his” here.

[2:33]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and to cause your soul grief.”

[2:33]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and all the increase of your house.”

[2:33]  ¹² 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.

[4:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your mice.” A Qumran ms has simply “the mice.”

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Perhaps he will lighten his hand from upon you and from upon your gods and from upon your land.”

[8:12]  ¹⁶ tc The numbers of v. 12 are confused in the Greek and Syriac versions. For “fifties” the LXX has “hundreds.” The Syriac Peshitta has “heads of thousands and heads of hundreds and heads of fifties and heads of tens,” perhaps reflecting influence from Deut 1:15.

[15:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

[15:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

[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.

[20:31]  ²⁵ tn Heb “all the days that.”

[20:31]  ²⁶ tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:31]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a son of death.”

[25:25]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and foolishness is with him.”

[25:25]  ²⁹ tn Heb “my lord’s servants, whom you sent.”

[26:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “anointed” (also in vv. 11, 16, 23).

[26:23]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the Lord returns to the man his righteousness and his faithfulness.”

[26:24]  ³² tn Heb “your life was great this day in my eyes.”

[26:24]  ³³ tn Heb “may my life be great in the eyes of the Lord.”

[30:14]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”

[30:26]  ³⁵ tn Heb “blessing.”

[31:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).