1 Samuel 15:29

15:29 The Preeminent One ¹  of Israel does not go back on his word ²  or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.” ³ 

1 Samuel 16:7

16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by ⁴  his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. ⁵  People look on the outward appearance, ⁶  but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 2:26

2:26 Now the boy Samuel was growing up and finding favor both with the Lord and with people.

1 Samuel 2:25

2:25 If a man sins against a man, one may appeal to God on his behalf. But if a man sins against the Lord, who then will intercede for him?” But Eli’s sons ⁷  would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided ⁸  to kill them.

1 Samuel 10:6

10:6 Then the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.

1 Samuel 26:19

26:19 So let my lord the king now listen to the words of his servant. If the Lord has incited you against me, may he take delight in ⁹  an offering. But if men have instigated this, ¹⁰  may they be cursed before the Lord! For they have driven me away this day from being united with the Lord’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go on, serve other gods!’

1 Samuel 2:6

2:6 The Lord both kills and gives life;

he brings down to the grave ¹¹  and raises up.

1 Samuel 2:9

2:9 He watches over ¹²  his holy ones, ¹³ 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

1 Samuel 17:12

17:12 ¹⁴ Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem ¹⁵  in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 17:47

17:47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

1 Samuel 25:29

25:29 When someone sets out to chase you and to take your life, the life of my lord will be wrapped securely in the bag ¹⁷  of the living by the Lord your God. But he will sling away the lives of your enemies from the sling’s pocket!

[15:29]  ¹ tn Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord.

[15:29]  ² tn Or perhaps “does not lie.”

[15:29]  ³ sn This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Change His Mind?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

[16:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “don’t look toward.”

[16:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “for not that which the man sees.” The translation follows the LXX, which reads, “for not as man sees does God see.” The MT has suffered from homoioteleuton or homoioarcton. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 274.

[16:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the eyes.”

[2:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Eli’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “desired.”

[26:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “may he smell.” The implication is that Saul should seek to appease God, for such divine instigation to evil would a sign of God’s disfavor. For a fuller discussion of this passage see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 19-21.

[26:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “but if the sons of men.”

[2:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Sheol”; NAB “the nether world”; CEV “the world of the dead.”

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:9]  ¹³ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.

[17:12]  ¹⁴ tc Some mss of the LXX lack vv. 12-31.

[17:12]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[17:12]  ¹⁶ tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”

[25:29]  ¹⁷ tn Cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “bundle”; NLT “treasure pouch.”