1 Samuel 12:16

12:16 “So now, take your positions and watch this great thing that the Lord is about to do in your sight.

1 Samuel 20:39

20:39 (Now the servant did not understand any of this. Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.) ¹ 

1 Samuel 28:10

28:10 But Saul swore an oath to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not incur guilt in this matter!”

1 Samuel 18:23

18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately ²  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 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 22:15

22:15 Was it just today that I began to inquire of God on his behalf? Far be it from me! The king should not accuse ³  his servant or any of my father’s house. For your servant is not aware of all this – not in whole or in part!” ⁴ 

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 21:2

21:2 David replied to Ahimelech the priest, “The king instructed me to do something, but he said to me, ‘Don’t let anyone know the reason I am sending you or the instructions I have given you.’ ⁵  I have told my soldiers ⁶  to wait at a certain place. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 23:17

23:17 He said to him, “Don’t be afraid! For the hand of my father Saul cannot find you. You will rule over Israel, and I will be your second in command. Even my father Saul realizes this.”

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 20:2

20:2 Jonathan ⁸  said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing ⁹  large or small without making me aware of it. ¹⁰  Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

1 Samuel 3:11-12

3:11 The Lord said to Samuel, “Look! I am about to do something in Israel; ¹¹  when anyone hears about it, both of his ears will tingle. 3:12 On that day I will carry out ¹²  against Eli everything that I spoke about his house – from start to finish!

1 Samuel 7:16

7:16 Year after year he used to travel the circuit of Bethel, ¹³  Gilgal, and Mizpah; he used to judge Israel in all of these places.

1 Samuel 20:23

20:23 With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the Lord is the witness between us forever!” ¹⁴ 

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 ¹⁵  people.

1 Samuel 11:2

11:2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “The only way I will make a treaty with you is if you let me gouge out the right eye of every one of you and in so doing humiliate all Israel!”

1 Samuel 12:1

12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done ¹⁶  everything you requested. ¹⁷  I have given you a king. ¹⁸ 

1 Samuel 12:24

12:24 However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you!

1 Samuel 25:30

25:30 The Lord will do for my lord everything that he promised you, ¹⁹  and he will make ²⁰  you a leader over Israel.

1 Samuel 25:37

25:37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober, ²¹  his wife told him about these matters. He had a stroke and was paralyzed. ²² 

1 Samuel 8:6

8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for ²³  they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord.

1 Samuel 12:21

12:21 You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty. ²⁴ 

1 Samuel 17:32

17:32 David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged. ²⁵  Your servant will go and fight this Philistine!”

1 Samuel 18:20

18:20 Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. When they told Saul about this, it ²⁶  pleased him.

1 Samuel 24:6

24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, ²⁷  by extending my hand against him. After all, ²⁸  he is the Lord’s chosen one.” ²⁹ 

1 Samuel 25:31

25:31 Your conscience will not be overwhelmed with guilt ³⁰  for having poured out innocent blood and for having taken matters into your own hands. When the Lord has granted my lord success, ³¹  please remember your servant.”

1 Samuel 4:16

4:16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines! Just today I fled from the battle lines!” Eli ³²  asked, “How did things go, my son?”

1 Samuel 7:17

7:17 Then he would return to Ramah, because his home was there. He also judged ³³  Israel there and built an altar to the Lord there.

1 Samuel 14:39

14:39 For as surely as the Lord, the deliverer of Israel, lives, even if it turns out to be my own son Jonathan, he will certainly die!” But no one from the army said anything. ³⁴ 

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 26:25

26:25 Saul replied to David, “May you be rewarded, ³⁵  my son David! You will without question be successful!” ³⁶  So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

1 Samuel 28:21

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. ³⁷  I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. ³⁸ 

1 Samuel 25:39

25:39 When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, “Praised be the Lord who has vindicated me and avenged the insult that I suffered from Nabal! ³⁹  The Lord has kept his servant from doing evil, and he has repaid Nabal for his evil deeds.” ⁴⁰  Then David sent word to Abigail and asked her to become his wife.

1 Samuel 5:4

5:4 But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left intact. ⁴¹ 

1 Samuel 7:6

7:6 After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed ⁴²  there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel led ⁴³  the people of Israel at Mizpah.

1 Samuel 9:20

9:20 Don’t be concerned ⁴⁴  about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found. Whom does all Israel desire? Is it not you, and all your father’s family?” ⁴⁵ 

1 Samuel 14:12

14:12 Then the men of the garrison said to Jonathan and his armor bearer, “Come on up to us so we can teach you a thing or two!” ⁴⁶  Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up behind me, for the Lord has given ⁴⁷  them into the hand of Israel!”

1 Samuel 16:18

16:18 One of his attendants replied, ⁴⁸  “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem ⁴⁹  who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior ⁵⁰  and is articulate ⁵¹  and handsome, ⁵²  for the Lord is with him.”

1 Samuel 18:5

18:5 On every mission on which Saul sent him, David achieved success. So Saul appointed him over the men of war. This pleased not only all the army, but also Saul’s servants. ⁵³ 

1 Samuel 19:4

19:4 So Jonathan spoke on David’s behalf ⁵⁴  to his father Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, his actions have been very beneficial ⁵⁵  for you.

1 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Taking an oath, David again ⁵⁶  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ⁵⁷  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ⁵⁸  ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!”

1 Samuel 20:8

20:8 You must be loyal ⁵⁹  to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. ⁶⁰  If I am guilty, ⁶¹  you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

1 Samuel 10:2

10:2 When you leave me today, you will find two men near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah on Benjamin’s border. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you have gone looking for have been found. Your father is no longer concerned about the donkeys but has become anxious about you two! ⁶²  He is asking, “What should I do about my son?”’

1 Samuel 12:3

12:3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king. ⁶³  Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me, ⁶⁴  and I will return it to you!”

1 Samuel 14:45

14:45 But the army said to Saul, “Should Jonathan, who won this great victory in Israel, die? May it never be! As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of his head will fall to the ground! For it is with the help of God that he has acted today.” So the army rescued Jonathan from death. ⁶⁵ 

[20:39]  ¹ tn Heb “knew the matter.”

[18:23]  ² tn Heb “in the ears of.”

[22:15]  ³ tn Heb “set a matter against.”

[22:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “small or great.”

[21:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “let not a man know anything about the matter [for] which I am sending you and [about] which I commanded you.”

[21:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “servants.”

[21:2]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew expression here refers to a particular, but unnamed, place. It occurs in the OT only here, in 2 Kgs 6:8, and in Ruth 4:1, where Boaz uses it to refer to Naomi’s unnamed kinsman-redeemer. A contracted form of the expression appears in Dan 8:13.

[20:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).

[20:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”

[3:11]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “so that” here, formally connecting this clause with the next.

[3:12]  ¹² tn Or “fulfill.”

[7:16]  ¹³ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[20:23]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “the Lord [is] between me and between you forever.” The translation assumes that the original text read עֵד עַד־עוֹלָם (’ed ’ad-’olam), “a witness forever,” with the noun “a witness” accidentally falling out of the text by haplography. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.

[2:23]  ¹⁵ 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.

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.”

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to all which you said to me.”

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and I have installed a king over you.”

[25:30]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “according to all which he spoke, the good concerning you.”

[25:30]  ²⁰ tn Heb “appoint.”

[25:37]  ²¹ tn Heb “when the wine had gone out from Nabal.”

[25:37]  ²² tn Heb “and his heart died within him and he became a stone.” Cf. TEV, NLT “stroke”; CEV “heart attack.” For an alternative interpretation than that presented above, see Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle, “The Law of the Heart: The Death of a Fool (1 Samuel 25),” JBL 120 (2001): 401-27, who argues that a medical diagnosis is not necessary here. Instead, the passage makes a connection between the heart and the law; Nabal dies for his lawlessness.

[8:6]  ²³ tn Heb “when.”

[12:21]  ²⁴ tn Or “useless” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “nothing”; NASB “futile”; TEV “are not real.”

[17:32]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Let not the heart of a man fall upon him.” The LXX reads “my lord,” instead of “a man.”

[18:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the matter.”

[24:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “anointed.”

[24:6]  ²⁸ tn Or “for.”

[24:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “anointed.”

[25:31]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and this will not be for you for staggering and for stumbling of the heart of my lord.”

[25:31]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the Lord will do well for my lord.”

[4:16]  ³² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:17]  ³³ tn Or perhaps “settled disputes for” (cf. NLT “would hear cases there”; NRSV “administered justice there”).

[14:39]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and there was no one answering from all the army.”

[26:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “blessed.”

[26:25]  ³⁶ tn Heb “you will certainly do and also you will certainly be able.” The infinitive absolutes placed before the finite verbal forms lend emphasis to the statement.

[28:21]  ³⁷ tn Heb “listened to your voice.”

[28:21]  ³⁸ tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”

[25:39]  ³⁹ tn Heb “who has argued the case of my insult from the hand of Nabal.”

[25:39]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “his servant he has held back from evil, and the evil of Nabal the Lord has turned back on his head.”

[5:4]  ⁴¹ tc Heb “only Dagon was left.” We should probably read the word גֵּו (gev, “back”) before Dagon, understanding it to have the sense of the similar word גְּוִיָּה (gÿviyyah, “body”). This variant is supported by the following evidence: The LXX has ἡ ῥάχις (Jh rJacis, “the back” or “trunk”); the Syriac Peshitta has wegusmeh (“and the body of”); the Targum has gupyeh (“the body of”); the Vulgate has truncus (“the trunk of,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT). On the strength of this evidence the present translation employs the phrase “Dagon’s body.”

[7:6]  ⁴² tn Heb “said.”

[7:6]  ⁴³ tn Heb “judged”; NAB “began to judge”; TEV “settled disputes among.”

[9:20]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “do not fix your heart.”

[9:20]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and all the house of your father.”

[14:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “a thing.”

[14:12]  ⁴⁷ tn The perfect verbal form is used rhetorically here to express Jonathan’s certitude. As far as he is concerned, the victory is as good as won and can be described as such.

[16:18]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[16:18]  ⁴⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “mighty man of valor and a man of war.”

[16:18]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “discerning of word.”

[16:18]  ⁵² tn Heb “a man of form.”

[18:5]  ⁵³ tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of all the people and also in the eyes of the servants of Saul.”

[19:4]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “spoke good with respect to David.”

[19:4]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “good.”

[20:3]  ⁵⁶ tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”

[20:3]  ⁵⁷ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:3]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.

[20:8]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “and you must do loyalty.”

[20:8]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “for into a covenant of the Lord you have brought your servant with you.”

[20:8]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”

[10:2]  ⁶² sn In the Hebrew text the pronoun you is plural, suggesting that Saul’s father was concerned about his son and the servant who accompanied him.

[12:3]  ⁶³ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

[12:3]  ⁶⁴ tn The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:45]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “and he did not die.”