1 Samuel 2:8

2:8 He lifts the weak ¹  from the dust;

he raises ²  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ³ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

1 Samuel 2:10

2:10 The Lord shatters ⁴  his adversaries; ⁵ 

he thunders against them from ⁶  the heavens.

The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.

He will strengthen ⁷  his king

and exalt the power ⁸  of his anointed one.” ⁹ 

1 Samuel 2:27

The Lord Judges the House of Eli

2:27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not plainly ¹⁰  reveal myself to your ancestor’s ¹¹  house when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh?

1 Samuel 2:29

2:29 Why are you ¹²  scorning my sacrifice and my offering that I commanded for my dwelling place? ¹³  You have honored your sons more than you have me by having made yourselves fat from the best parts of all the offerings of my people Israel.’

1 Samuel 5:10

5:10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

But when the ark of God arrived at Ekron, the residents of Ekron cried out saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel here ¹⁴  to kill our ¹⁵  people!”

1 Samuel 6:3

6:3 They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of ¹⁶  the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.”

1 Samuel 6:12

6:12 Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

1 Samuel 6:18

6:18 The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel, ¹⁷  where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

1 Samuel 7:10

7:10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. ¹⁸  But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by ¹⁹  Israel.

1 Samuel 9:2

9:2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.

1 Samuel 9:6-7

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. ²⁰  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ²¹  9:7 So Saul said to his servant, “All right, ²²  we can go. But what can we bring the man, since the food in our bags is used up? We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

1 Samuel 10:5

10:5 Afterward you will go to Gibeah of God, where there are Philistine officials. ²³  When you enter the town, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place. They will have harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying.

1 Samuel 12:14

12:14 If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him ²⁴  and not rebelling against what he says, ²⁵  and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well. ²⁶ 

1 Samuel 13:5

13:5 For the battle with Israel the Philistines had amassed 3,000 ²⁷  chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.

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!” ²⁸  Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up behind me, for the Lord has given ²⁹  them into the hand of Israel!”

1 Samuel 14:47

14:47 After Saul had secured his royal position over Israel, he fought against all their ³⁰  enemies on all sides – the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. In every direction that he turned he was victorious. ³¹ 

1 Samuel 15:3

15:3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare ³²  them. Put them to death – man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’”

1 Samuel 15:6

15:6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away ³³  with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 15:9

15:9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, ³⁴  and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. ³⁵  They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised ³⁶  and worthless.

1 Samuel 16:1

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ³⁷  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ³⁸  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ³⁹ 

1 Samuel 16:18

16:18 One of his attendants replied, ⁴⁰  “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem ⁴¹  who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior ⁴²  and is articulate ⁴³  and handsome, ⁴⁴  for the Lord is with him.”

1 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Goliath ⁴⁵  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ⁴⁶  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ⁴⁷  for yourselves a man so he may come down ⁴⁸  to me!

1 Samuel 18:25

18:25 Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his ⁴⁹  enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)

1 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Taking an oath, David again ⁵⁰  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ⁵¹  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ⁵²  ‘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 ⁵³  to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. ⁵⁴  If I am guilty, ⁵⁵  you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

1 Samuel 20:21

20:21 When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; ⁵⁶  get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem.

1 Samuel 20:42

20:42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn together in the name of the Lord saying, ‘The Lord will be between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’”

David Goes to Nob

(21:1)

⁵⁷ Then David ⁵⁸  got up and left, while Jonathan went back to the city.

1 Samuel 21:9

David Goes to Gath

21:9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod. If you wish, take it for yourself. Other than that, there’s nothing here.” David said, “There’s nothing like it! Give it to me!”

1 Samuel 22:7-8

22:7 Saul said to his servants who were stationed around him, “Listen up, you Benjaminites! Is Jesse’s son giving fields and vineyards to all of you? Or is he making all of you ⁵⁹  commanders and officers? ⁶⁰  22:8 For all of you have conspired against me! No one informs me ⁶¹  when my own son makes an agreement with this son of Jesse! Not one of you feels sorry for me or informs me that my own son has commissioned my own servant to hide in ambush against me, as is the case today!”

1 Samuel 22:18

22:18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests. He killed on that day eighty-five ⁶²  men who wore the linen ephod.

1 Samuel 24:3-4

24:3 He came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave. Saul went into it to relieve himself. ⁶³ 

Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave. 24:4 David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the Lord said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him whatever seems appropriate to you.’” ⁶⁴  So David got up and quietly cut off an edge of Saul’s robe.

1 Samuel 25:8

25:8 Ask your own servants; they can tell you! May my servants find favor in your sight, for we have come ⁶⁵  at the time of a holiday. Please provide us – your servants ⁶⁶  and your son David – with whatever you can spare.” ⁶⁷ 

1 Samuel 25:13

25:13 Then David instructed his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men followed David up, while two hundred stayed behind with the equipment.

1 Samuel 25:26

25:26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, it is the Lord who has kept you from shedding blood and taking matters into your own hands. Now may your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord be like Nabal.

1 Samuel 28:9

28:9 But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed ⁶⁸  the mediums and magicians ⁶⁹  from the land! Why are you trapping me ⁷⁰  so you can put me to death?”

1 Samuel 29:8

29:8 But David said to Achish, “What have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day that I first came into your presence until the present time, that I shouldn’t go and fight the enemies of my lord the king?”

1 Samuel 30:1

David Defeats the Amalekites

30:1 On the third day David and his men came to Ziklag. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They attacked Ziklag and burned it. ⁷¹ 

1 Samuel 30:6

30:6 David was very upset, for the men ⁷²  were thinking of stoning him; ⁷³  each man grieved bitterly ⁷⁴  over his sons and daughters. But David drew strength from the Lord his God.

1 Samuel 30:8

30:8 David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Should I pursue this raiding band? Will I overtake them?” He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them and carry out a rescue!”

[2:8]  ¹ tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

[2:8]  ² tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

[2:8]  ³ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”

[2:10]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this line and in the next two lines are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:10]  ⁵ tc The present translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate in reading the plural (“his adversaries,” similarly many other English versions) rather than the singular (“his adversary”) of the Kethib.

[2:10]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew preposition here has the sense of “from within.”

[2:10]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this and the next line are understood as indicating what is anticipated and translated with the future tense, because at the time of Hannah’s prayer Israel did not yet have a king.

[2:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “the horn,” here a metaphor for power or strength. Cf. NCV “make his appointed king strong”; NLT “increases the might of his anointed one.”

[2:10]  ⁹ tc The LXX greatly expands v. 10 with an addition that seems to be taken from Jer 9:23-24.

[2:10]  sn The anointed one is the anticipated king of Israel, as the preceding line makes clear.

[2:27]  ¹⁰ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[2:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to your father’s” (also in vv. 28, 30).

[2:29]  ¹² tc The MT has a plural “you” here, but the LXX and a Qumran ms have the singular. The singular may be the correct reading; the verb “you have honored” later in the verse is singular even in the MT. However, it is more probable that the Lord here refers to Eli and his sons. Note the plural in the second half of the verse (“you have made yourselves fat”).

[2:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “which I commanded, dwelling place.” The noun is functioning as an adverbial accusative in relation to the verb. Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun “my” is supplied in the translation.

[5:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to me.”

[5:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my.”

[6:3]  ¹⁶ tc The LXX and a Qumran ms add “the covenant of the Lord.”

[6:18]  ¹⁷ tc A few Hebrew mss and the LXX read “villages; the large rock…[is witness] until this very day.”

[7:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “approached for battle against Israel.”

[7:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “before.”

[9:6]  ²⁰ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[9:7]  ²² tn Heb “look.”

[10:5]  ²³ tn Or “sentries.” Some translate “outpost” (NIV) or “garrison” (NAB, NRSV, NLT) here (see 1 Sam 13:3). The noun is plural in the Hebrew text, but the LXX and other ancient witnesses read a singular noun here.

[12:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and you listen to his voice.”

[12:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” So also in v. 15.

[12:14]  ²⁶ tn The words “all will be well” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:5]  ²⁷ tn Many English versions (e.g., KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV) read “30,000” here.

[14:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a thing.”

[14:12]  ²⁹ 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.

[14:47]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his,” which could refer to Israel or to Saul.

[14:47]  ³¹ tc The translation follows the LXX (“he was delivered”), rather than the MT, which reads, “he acted wickedly.”

[15:3]  ³² tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).

[15:6]  ³³ tc The translation follows the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate which assume a reading אֶסִפְךָ (’esfÿka, “I sweep you away,” from the root ספה [sfh]) rather than the MT אֹסִפְךָ (’osifÿka, “I am gathering you,” from the root אסף[’sf]).

[15:9]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. We should probably read וְהַמַּשְׂמַנִּים (vÿhammasmannim, “the fat ones”) rather than the MT וְהַמִּשְׂנִים (vÿhammisnim, “the second ones”). However, if the MT is retained, the sense may be as the Jewish commentator Kimchi supposed: the second-born young, thought to be better than the firstlings. (For discussion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 123-24.)

[15:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “good.”

[15:9]  ³⁶ tc The MT has here the very odd form נְמִבְזָה (nÿmivzah), but this is apparently due to a scribal error. The translation follows instead the Niphal participle נִבְזָה (nivzah).

[16:1]  ³⁷ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ³⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

[16:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[16:18]  ⁴¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:18]  ⁴² tn Heb “mighty man of valor and a man of war.”

[16:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “discerning of word.”

[16:18]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “a man of form.”

[17:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:8]  ⁴⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

[17:8]  ⁴⁷ tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.

[17:8]  ⁴⁸ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

[18:25]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the king’s.”

[20:3]  ⁵⁰ tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”

[20:3]  ⁵¹ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:3]  ⁵² tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.

[20:8]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and you must do loyalty.”

[20:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “for into a covenant of the Lord you have brought your servant with you.”

[20:8]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”

[20:21]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “from you and here.”

[20:42]  ⁵⁷ sn Beginning with 20:42b, the verse numbers through 21:15 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 20:42b ET = 21:1 HT, 21:1 ET = 21:2 HT, 21:2 ET = 21:3 HT, etc., through 21:15 ET = 21:16 HT. With 22:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[20:42]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:7]  ⁵⁹ tc The MT has “to all of you.” If this reading is correct, we have here an example of a prepositional phrase functioning as the equivalent of a dative of advantage, which is not impossible from a grammatical point of view. However, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate all have “and.” A conjunction rather than a preposition should probably be read on the front of this phrase.

[22:7]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”

[22:8]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “uncovers my ear.”

[22:18]  ⁶² tc The number is confused in the Greek ms tradition. The LXX, with the exception of the Lucianic recension, has the number 305. The Lucianic recension, along with a couple of Old Latin mss, has the number 350.

[24:3]  ⁶³ tn Heb “to cover his feet,” an idiom (euphemism) for relieving oneself (cf. NAB “to ease nature”).

[24:4]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “is good in your eyes.”

[25:8]  ⁶⁵ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בָּאנוּ (ba’nu, “we have come”) rather than the MT’s בָּנוּ (banu, “we have built”).

[25:8]  ⁶⁶ tn This refers to the ten servants sent by David.

[25:8]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “whatever your hand will find.”

[28:9]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “how he has cut off.”

[28:9]  ⁶⁹ tn See the note at v. 3.

[28:9]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “my life.”

[30:1]  ⁷¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”

[30:6]  ⁷² tn Heb “people.”

[30:6]  ⁷³ tn Heb “said to stone him.”

[30:6]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “for bitter was the soul of all the people, each one.”