1 Samuel 12:10

12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ¹  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ²  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ³ 

1 Samuel 15:9

15:9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, ⁴  and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. ⁵  They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised ⁶  and worthless.

1 Samuel 22:7

22:7 Saul said to his servants who were stationed around him, “Listen up, you Benjaminites! Is Jesse’s son giving fields and vineyards to all of you? Or is he making all of you ⁷  commanders and officers? ⁸ 

[12:10]  ¹ tn Heb “and said.”

[12:10]  ² tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.

[12:10]  sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in 7:3.

[12:10]  ³ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[15:9]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. We should probably read וְהַמַּשְׂמַנִּים (vÿhammasmannim, “the fat ones”) rather than the MT וְהַמִּשְׂנִים (vÿhammisnim, “the second ones”). However, if the MT is retained, the sense may be as the Jewish commentator Kimchi supposed: the second-born young, thought to be better than the firstlings. (For discussion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 123-24.)

[15:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “good.”

[15:9]  ⁶ tc The MT has here the very odd form נְמִבְזָה (nÿmivzah), but this is apparently due to a scribal error. The translation follows instead the Niphal participle נִבְזָה (nivzah).

[22:7]  ⁷ tc The MT has “to all of you.” If this reading is correct, we have here an example of a prepositional phrase functioning as the equivalent of a dative of advantage, which is not impossible from a grammatical point of view. However, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate all have “and.” A conjunction rather than a preposition should probably be read on the front of this phrase.

[22:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”