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 3:9-10

3:9 So Eli said to Samuel, “Go back and lie down. When he calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place.

3:10 Then the Lord came and stood nearby, calling as he had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!”

1 Samuel 3:14

3:14 Therefore I swore an oath to the house of Eli, ‘The sin of the house of Eli can never be forgiven by sacrifice or by grain offering.’”

1 Samuel 4:20

4:20 As she was dying, the women who were there with her said, “Don’t be afraid! You have given birth to a son!” But she did not reply or pay any attention. ⁴ 

1 Samuel 5:7

5:7 When the people ⁵  of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, for he has attacked ⁶  both us and our god Dagon!”

1 Samuel 7:2

Further Conflict with the Philistines

7:2 It was quite a long time – some twenty years in all – that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people ⁷  of Israel longed for ⁸  the Lord.

1 Samuel 7:9

7:9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb ⁹  and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

1 Samuel 7:12

7:12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. ¹⁰  He named it Ebenezer, ¹¹  saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.”

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 13:13

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!

1 Samuel 14:33

14:33 Now it was reported to Saul, “Look, the army is sinning against the Lord by eating even the blood.” He said, “All of you have broken the covenant! ¹⁴  Roll a large stone over here to me.”

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. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 15:32

Samuel Puts Agag to Death

15:32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of the Amalekites.” So Agag came to him trembling, ¹⁶  thinking to himself, ¹⁷  “Surely death is bitter!” ¹⁸ 

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ¹⁹  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

1 Samuel 16:23

16:23 So whenever the spirit from God would come upon Saul, David would take his lyre and play it. This would bring relief to Saul and make him feel better. Then the evil spirit would leave him alone. ²⁰ 

1 Samuel 17:33

17:33 But Saul replied to David, “You aren’t able to go against this Philistine and fight him! You’re just a boy! He has been a warrior from his youth!”

1 Samuel 18:11

18:11 and Saul threw the spear, thinking, “I’ll nail David to the wall!” But David escaped from him on two different occasions.

1 Samuel 20:22

20:22 But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,’ ²¹  get away. For in that case the Lord has sent you away.

1 Samuel 24:19

24:19 Now if a man finds his enemy, does he send him on his way in good shape? May the Lord repay you with good this day for what you have done to me.

1 Samuel 25:25

25:25 My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man Nabal. He simply lives up to his name! His name means ‘fool,’ and he is indeed foolish! ²²  But I, your servant, did not see the servants my lord sent. ²³ 

1 Samuel 25:33

25:33 Praised be your good judgment! May you yourself be rewarded ²⁴  for having prevented me this day from shedding blood and taking matters into my own hands!

1 Samuel 28:12

28:12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly. ²⁵  The woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”

1 Samuel 30:12

30:12 They gave him a slice of pressed figs and two bunches of raisins to eat. This greatly refreshed him, ²⁶  for he had not eaten food or drunk water for three days and three nights.

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!”

[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.”

[4:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “men.”

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “for his hand is severe upon.”

[7:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “mourned after”; NIV “mourned and sought after”; KJV, NRSV “lamented after”; NAB “turned to”; NCV “began to follow…again.”

[7:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “a lamb of milk”; NAB “an unweaned lamb”; NIV “a suckling lamb”; NCV “a baby lamb.”

[7:12]  ¹⁰ tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”

[7:12]  ¹¹ sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.

[13:13]  ¹² tn Or “kept.”

[13:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “commanded.”

[14:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “You have acted deceptively.” In this context the verb refers to violating an agreement, in this case the dietary and sacrificial regulations of the Mosaic law. The verb form is second masculine plural; apparently Saul here addresses those who are eating the animals.

[14:39]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and there was no one answering from all the army.”

[15:32]  ¹⁶ tn The MT reading מַעֲדַנֹּת (ma’adannot, literally, “bonds,” used here adverbially, “in bonds”) is difficult. The word is found only here and in Job 38:31. Part of the problem lies in determining the root of the word. Some scholars have taken it to be from the root ענד (’nd, “to bind around”), but this assumes a metathesis of two of the letters of the root. Others take it from the root עדן (’dn) with the meaning “voluptuously,” but this does not seem to fit the context. It seems better to understand the word to be from the root מעד (m’d, “to totter” or “shake”). In that case it describes the fear that Agag experienced in realizing the mortal danger that he faced as he approached Samuel. This is the way that the LXX translators understood the word, rendering it by the Greek participle τρέμον (tremon, “trembling”).

[15:32]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and Agag said.”

[15:32]  ¹⁸ tc The text is difficult here. With the LXX, two Old Latin mss, and the Syriac Peshitta it is probably preferable to delete סָר (sar, “is past”) of the MT; it looks suspiciously like a dittograph of the following word מַר (mar, “bitter”). This further affects the interpretation of Agag’s comment. In the MT he comes to Samuel confidently assured that the danger is over (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV “Surely the bitterness of death is past,” along with NLT, CEV). However, it seems more likely that Agag realized that his fortunes had suddenly taken a turn for the worse and that the clemency he had enjoyed from Saul would not be his lot from Samuel. The present translation thus understands Agag to approach not confidently but in the stark realization that his death is imminent (“Surely death is bitter!”). Cf. NAB “So it is bitter death!”; NRSV “Surely this is the bitterness of death”; TEV “What a bitter thing it is to die!”

[16:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[16:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “would turn aside from upon him.”

[20:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “from you and onward.”

[25:25]  ²² tn Heb “and foolishness is with him.”

[25:25]  ²³ tn Heb “my lord’s servants, whom you sent.”

[25:33]  ²⁴ tn Heb “blessed.”

[28:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in a great voice.”

[30:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “his spirit returned to him.”