1 Samuel 1:7

1:7 Peninnah ¹  would behave this way year after year. Whenever Hannah ²  went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnah ³  would upset her so that she would weep and refuse to eat.

1 Samuel 2:23

2:23 He said to them, “Why do you behave in this way? For I hear about these evil things from all these ⁴  people.

1 Samuel 3:10

3:10 Then the Lord came and stood nearby, calling as he had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!”

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 4:9

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!”

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. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 8:5

8:5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead ⁶  us, just like all the other nations have.”

1 Samuel 10:24

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 12:7

12:7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you ⁷  before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 12:18

12:18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord made it thunder and rain that day. All the people were very afraid of both the Lord and Samuel.

1 Samuel 13:8

13:8 He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. ⁹  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. ¹⁰ 

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 14:19

14:19 While ¹¹  Saul spoke to the priest, the panic in the Philistines’ camp was becoming greater and greater. So Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand!”

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 14:32-33

14:32 So the army rushed greedily on ¹²  the ¹³  plunder, confiscating sheep, cattle, and calves. They slaughtered them right on the ground, and the army ate them blood and all.

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! ¹⁴  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 ¹⁵  Israel along the way when Israel ¹⁶  came up from Egypt.

1 Samuel 15:21

15:21 But the army took from the plunder some of the sheep and cattle – the best of what was to be slaughtered – to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

1 Samuel 15:32

Samuel Puts Agag to Death

15:32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of the Amalekites.” So Agag came to him trembling, ¹⁷  thinking to himself, ¹⁸  “Surely death is bitter!” ¹⁹ 

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ²⁰  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

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 19:22

19:22 Finally Saul ²¹  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 20:6

20:6 If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go ²²  to his city Bethlehem, ²³  for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’

1 Samuel 20:9

20:9 Jonathan said, “Far be it from you to suggest this! If I were at all aware that my father had decided to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?”

1 Samuel 20:19

20:19 On the third day ²⁴  you should go down quickly ²⁵  and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. ²⁶  Stay near the stone Ezel.

1 Samuel 23:10

23:10 Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, your servant has clearly heard that Saul is planning ²⁷  to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me.

1 Samuel 27:2

27:2 So David left and crossed over to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath accompanied by his six hundred men.

1 Samuel 27:8

27:8 Then David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They had been living in that land for a long time, from the approach ²⁸  to Shur as far as the land of Egypt.)

1 Samuel 28:21-22

28:21 When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, “Your servant has done what you asked. ²⁹  I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. ³⁰  28:22 Now it’s your turn to listen to your servant! Let me set before you a bit of bread so that you can eat. When you regain your strength, you can go on your way.”

1 Samuel 30:23

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.

1 Samuel 31:3

31:3 Saul himself was in the thick of the battle; ³²  the archers ³³  spotted him and wounded him severely.

[1:7]  ¹ tn The MT has a masculine form of the verb here יַעֲשֶׂה (ya’aseh, “he used to do”); the subject in that case would presumably be Elkanah. But this leads to an abrupt change of subject in the following part of the verse, where the subject is the rival wife who caused Hannah anxiety. In light of v. 6 one expects the statement of v. 7 to refer to the ongoing actions of the rival wife: “she used to behave in this way year after year.” Some scholars have proposed retaining the masculine form but changing the vocalization of the verb so as to read a Niphal rather than a Qal (i.e., יֵעֲשֶׂה, ye’aseh, “so it used to be done”). But the problem here is lack of precedent for such a use of the Niphal of this verb. It seems best in light of the context to understand the reference to be to Hannah’s rival Peninnah and to read here, with the Syriac Peshitta, a feminine form of the verb (“she used to do”). In the translation the referent (Peninnah) has been specified for clarity.

[1:7]  ² tn Heb “she”; the referent (Hannah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:7]  ³ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Peninnah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁴ tc For “these” the LXX has “of the Lord” (κυρίου, kuriou), perhaps through the influence of the final phrase of v. 24 (“the people of the Lord”). Somewhat less likely is the view that the MT reading is due to a distorted dittography of the first word of v. 24. The Vulgate lacks the word.

[4:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”

[8:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).

[12:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.”

[12:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”

[13:8]  ⁹ tn This apparently refers to the instructions given by Samuel in 1 Sam 10:8. If so, several years had passed. On the relationship between chs. 10 and 13, see V. P. Long, The Art of Biblical History (FCI), 201-23.

[13:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”

[14:19]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps “until.”

[14:32]  ¹² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading “and they rushed greedily upon,” rather than the Kethib, “and they did.”

[14:32]  ¹³ tc The translation reads with the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss הַשָּׁלָל (hashalal, “the spoil”) rather than following the Kethib reading, שָׁלָל (shalal, “spoil”).

[14:33]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

[15:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:32]  ¹⁷ tn The MT reading מַעֲדַנֹּת (ma’adannot, literally, “bonds,” used here adverbially, “in bonds”) is difficult. The word is found only here and in Job 38:31. Part of the problem lies in determining the root of the word. Some scholars have taken it to be from the root ענד (’nd, “to bind around”), but this assumes a metathesis of two of the letters of the root. Others take it from the root עדן (’dn) with the meaning “voluptuously,” but this does not seem to fit the context. It seems better to understand the word to be from the root מעד (m’d, “to totter” or “shake”). In that case it describes the fear that Agag experienced in realizing the mortal danger that he faced as he approached Samuel. This is the way that the LXX translators understood the word, rendering it by the Greek participle τρέμον (tremon, “trembling”).

[15:32]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and Agag said.”

[15:32]  ¹⁹ tc The text is difficult here. With the LXX, two Old Latin mss, and the Syriac Peshitta it is probably preferable to delete סָר (sar, “is past”) of the MT; it looks suspiciously like a dittograph of the following word מַר (mar, “bitter”). This further affects the interpretation of Agag’s comment. In the MT he comes to Samuel confidently assured that the danger is over (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV “Surely the bitterness of death is past,” along with NLT, CEV). However, it seems more likely that Agag realized that his fortunes had suddenly taken a turn for the worse and that the clemency he had enjoyed from Saul would not be his lot from Samuel. The present translation thus understands Agag to approach not confidently but in the stark realization that his death is imminent (“Surely death is bitter!”). Cf. NAB “So it is bitter death!”; NRSV “Surely this is the bitterness of death”; TEV “What a bitter thing it is to die!”

[16:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[19:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “he” (also in v. 23). the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:6]  ²² tn Heb “to run.”

[20:6]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[20:19]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Heb “you must go down greatly.” See Judg 19:11 for the same idiom.

[20:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2.

[23:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “seeking.”

[27:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “from where you come.”

[28:21]  ²⁹ tn Heb “listened to your voice.”

[28:21]  ³⁰ tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”

[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.

[31:3]  ³² tn Heb “and the battle was heavy against Saul.”

[31:3]  ³³ tn Heb “the shooters, men with the bow.”