1 Samuel 2:16

2:16 If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ¹  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

1 Samuel 2:30

2:30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say ²  that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve ³  me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! ⁴  For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed!

1 Samuel 6:7

6:7 So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves from them back to their stalls.

1 Samuel 9:6

9:6 But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. ⁵  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ⁶ 

1 Samuel 9:13

9:13 When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for ⁷  this is the time when you can find him!”

1 Samuel 10:19

10:19 But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No! ⁸  Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”

1 Samuel 12:10

12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ⁹  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ¹⁰  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 13:13-14

13:13 Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed ¹²  the commandment that the Lord your God gave ¹³  you. Had you done that, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever! 13:14 But now your kingdom will not continue! The Lord has sought out ¹⁴  for himself a man who is loyal to him ¹⁵  and the Lord has appointed ¹⁶  him to be leader over his people, for you have not obeyed what the Lord commanded you.”

1 Samuel 15:3

15:3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare ¹⁷  them. Put them to death – man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’”

1 Samuel 18:22

18:22 Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.”

1 Samuel 20:29

20:29 He said, ‘Permit me to go, ¹⁸  for we are having a family sacrifice in the city, and my brother urged ¹⁹  me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go ²⁰  to see my brothers.’ For that reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

1 Samuel 20:31

20:31 For as long as ²¹  this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men ²²  and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” ²³ 

1 Samuel 26:8

26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me drive the spear ²⁴  right through him into the ground with one swift jab! ²⁵  A second jab won’t be necessary!”

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 26:16

26:16 This failure on your part isn’t good! ²⁶  As surely as the Lord lives, you people who have not protected your lord, the Lord’s chosen one, are as good as dead! ²⁷  Now look where the king’s spear and the jug of water that was by his head are!”

1 Samuel 26:20

26:20 Now don’t let my blood fall to the ground away from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a flea the way one looks for a partridge ²⁸  in the hill country.”

1 Samuel 27:1

David Aligns Himself with the Philistines

27:1 David thought to himself, ²⁹  “One of these days I’m going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand.”

[2:16]  ¹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”

[2:30]  ² tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[2:30]  ³ tn Heb “walk about before.”

[2:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “may it be far removed from me.”

[9:6]  ⁵ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[9:13]  ⁷ tc The MT has “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto) here, in addition to the “him” at the end of the verse. The ancient versions attest to only one occurrence of the pronoun, although it is possible that this is due to translation technique rather than to their having a Hebrew text with the pronoun used only once. The present translation assumes textual duplication in the MT and does not attempt to represent the pronoun twice. However, for a defense of the MT here, with the suggested translation “for him just now – you will find him,” see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 72-73.

[10:19]  ⁸ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading לֹא (lo’, “not”) rather than the MT לוֹ (lo; “to him”). Some witnesses combine the variants, resulting in a conflated text. For example, a few medieval Hebrew mss have לֹא לוֹ (lo lo’; “to him, ‘No.’”). A few others have לֹא לִי (li lo’; “to me, ‘No.’”).

[12:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “and said.”

[12:10]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[13:13]  ¹² tn Or “kept.”

[13:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “commanded.”

[13:14]  ¹⁴ tn This verb form, as well as the one that follows (“appointed”), indicates completed action from the standpoint of the speaker. This does not necessarily mean that the Lord had already conducted his search and made his choice, however. The forms may be used for rhetorical effect to emphasize the certainty of the action. The divine search for a new king is as good as done, emphasizing that the days of Saul’s dynasty are numbered.

[13:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “according to his heart.” The idiomatic expression means to be like-minded with another, as its use in 1 Sam 14:7 indicates.

[13:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “commanded.”

[15:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).

[20:29]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “send me.”

[20:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “commanded.”

[20:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “be released [from duty].”

[20:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “all the days that.”

[20:31]  ²² tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:31]  ²³ tn Heb “a son of death.”

[26:8]  ²⁴ tn Here “the spear” almost certainly refers to Saul’s own spear, which according to the previous verse was stuck into the ground beside him as he slept. This is reflected in a number of English versions: TEV, CEV “his own spear”; NLT “that spear.” Cf. NIV, NCV “my spear,” in which case Abishai refers to his own spear rather than Saul’s, but this is unlikely since (1) Abishai would probably not have carried a spear along since such a weapon would be unwieldy when sneaking into the enemy camp; and (2) this would not explain the mention of Saul’s own spear stuck in the ground beside him in the previous verse.

[26:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”

[26:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Not good [is] this thing which you have done.”

[26:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “you are sons of death.”

[26:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the calling [one],” which apparently refers to a partridge.

[27:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “said to his heart.”