1 Samuel 2:5

2:5 Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food,

but the hungry no longer lack.

Even ¹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ² 

but the one with many children withers away. ³ 

1 Samuel 10:4

10:4 They will ask you how you’re doing and will give you two loaves of bread. You will accept them.

1 Samuel 21:3

21:3 Now what do you have at your disposal? ⁴  Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”

[2:5]  ¹ tc Against BHS but with the MT, the preposition (עַד, ’ad) should be taken with what follows rather than with what precedes. For this sense of the preposition see Job 25:5.

[2:5]  ² sn The number seven is used here in an ideal sense. Elsewhere in the OT having seven children is evidence of fertility as a result of God’s blessing on the family. See, for example, Jer 15:9, Ruth 4:15.

[2:5]  ³ tn Or “languishes.”

[21:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “under your hand.”