1 Samuel 29:9

29:9 Achish replied to David, “I am convinced that you are as reliable ¹  as the angel of God! However, the leaders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us in the battle.’

1 Samuel 12:21

12:21 You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty. ² 

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! ³  Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”

1 Samuel 25:42

25:42 Then Abigail quickly went and mounted her donkey, with five of her female servants accompanying her. ⁴  She followed David’s messengers and became his wife.

1 Samuel 10:21

10:21 Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of Matri was chosen by lot. At last Saul son of Kish was chosen by lot. But when they looked for him, he was nowhere to be found.

1 Samuel 6:4

6:4 They inquired, “What is the guilt offering that we should send to him?”

They replied, “The Philistine leaders number five. So send five gold sores and five gold mice, for it is the same plague that has afflicted both you and your leaders.

1 Samuel 12:14

12:14 If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him ⁵  and not rebelling against what he says, ⁶  and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well. ⁷ 

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 8:6

8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for ⁸  they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord.

1 Samuel 13:8

13:8 He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. ⁹  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 18:23

18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately ¹¹  to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”

1 Samuel 29:6

29:6 So Achish summoned David and said to him, “As surely as the Lord lives, you are an honest man, and I am glad to have you ¹²  serving ¹³  with me in the army. ¹⁴  I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion ¹⁵  of the leaders, you are not reliable. ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 2:35

2:35 Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a secure dynasty ¹⁷  and he will serve my chosen one for all time. ¹⁸ 

1 Samuel 14:7

14:7 His armor bearer said to him, “Do everything that is on your mind. ¹⁹  Do as you’re inclined. I’m with you all the way!” ²⁰ 

1 Samuel 28:23

28:23 But he refused, saying, “I won’t eat!” Both his servants and the woman urged ²¹  him to eat, so he gave in. ²²  He got up from the ground and sat down on the bed.

1 Samuel 28:21

28:21 When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, “Your servant has done what you asked. ²³  I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. ²⁴ 

1 Samuel 15:22

15:22 Then Samuel said,

“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as he does in obedience? ²⁵ 

Certainly, ²⁶  obedience ²⁷  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ²⁸  the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 12:1

12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done ²⁹  everything you requested. ³⁰  I have given you a king. ³¹ 

1 Samuel 15:20

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ³²  the Lord! I went on the campaign ³³  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 15:24

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ³⁴  and what you said as well. ³⁵  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ³⁶ 

1 Samuel 25:35

25:35 Then David took from her hand what she had brought to him. He said to her, “Go back ³⁷  to your home in peace. Be assured that I have listened to you ³⁸  and responded favorably.” ³⁹ 

1 Samuel 28:18

28:18 Since you did not obey the Lord ⁴⁰  and did not carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this thing to you today.

1 Samuel 28:22

28:22 Now it’s your turn to listen to your servant! Let me set before you a bit of bread so that you can eat. When you regain your strength, you can go on your way.”

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!”

1 Samuel 25:27

25:27 Now let this present ⁴¹  that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the servants who follow ⁴²  my lord.

1 Samuel 6:10

6:10 So the men did as instructed. ⁴³  They took two cows that had calves and harnessed them to a cart; they also removed their calves to their stalls.

1 Samuel 8:3

8:3 But his sons did not follow ⁴⁴  his ways. Instead, they made money dishonestly, accepted bribes, and perverted justice. ⁴⁵ 

1 Samuel 10:7

10:7 “When these signs have taken place, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God will be with you. ⁴⁶ 

1 Samuel 11:10

11:10 The men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you ⁴⁷  and you can do with us whatever you wish.” ⁴⁸ 

1 Samuel 15:19

15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed ⁴⁹  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” ⁵⁰ 

1 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Now at your own discretion, ⁵¹  O king, come down. Delivering him into the king’s hand will be our responsibility.”

1 Samuel 25:12

25:12 So David’s servants went on their way. When they had returned, they came and told David ⁵²  all these things.

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, ⁵³  where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

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 ⁵⁴  at the time of a holiday. Please provide us – your servants ⁵⁵  and your son David – with whatever you can spare.” ⁵⁶ 

1 Samuel 8:5

8:5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead ⁵⁷  us, just like all the other nations have.”

1 Samuel 8:8

8:8 Just as they have done ⁵⁸  from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you.

1 Samuel 10:10

10:10 When Saul and his servant ⁵⁹  arrived at Gibeah, a company of prophets was coming out to meet him. Then the spirit of God rushed upon Saul ⁶⁰  and he prophesied among them.

1 Samuel 12:20

12:20 Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed sinned. ⁶¹  However, don’t turn aside from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart.

1 Samuel 13:13

13:13 Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed ⁶²  the commandment that the Lord your God gave ⁶³  you. Had you done that, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever!

1 Samuel 14:40

14:40 Then he said to all Israel, “You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.” The army replied to Saul, “Do whatever you think is best.”

1 Samuel 16:10

16:10 Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel. ⁶⁴  But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”

1 Samuel 20:26

20:26 However, Saul said nothing about it ⁶⁵  that day, for he thought, ⁶⁶  “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.”

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! ⁶⁷  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

1 Samuel 6:9

6:9 But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”

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. ⁶⁸  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ⁶⁹ 

1 Samuel 9:12

9:12 They replied, “Yes, straight ahead! But hurry now, for he came to the town today, and the people are making a sacrifice at the high place.

1 Samuel 10:18

10:18 He said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt and I delivered you from the power ⁷⁰  of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.

1 Samuel 14:36

14:36 Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines at night; we will rout ⁷¹  them until the break of day. ⁷²  We won’t leave any of them alive!” ⁷³  They replied, “Do whatever seems best to you.” ⁷⁴  But the priest said, “Let’s approach God here.”

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 ⁷⁵  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 15:11

15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I told him to do.” Samuel became angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

1 Samuel 21:5

21:5 David said to the priest, “Certainly women have been kept away from us, just as on previous occasions when I have set out. The soldiers’ ⁷⁶  equipment is holy, even on an ordinary journey. How much more so will they be holy today, along with their equipment!”

1 Samuel 22:15

22:15 Was it just today that I began to inquire of God on his behalf? Far be it from me! The king should not accuse ⁷⁷  his servant or any of my father’s house. For your servant is not aware of all this – not in whole or in part!” ⁷⁸ 

1 Samuel 24:4

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.’” ⁷⁹  So David got up and quietly cut off an edge of Saul’s robe.

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?”

[29:9]  ¹ tn Heb “I know that you are good in my eyes.”

[12:21]  ² tn Or “useless” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “nothing”; NASB “futile”; TEV “are not real.”

[10:19]  ³ 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.’”).

[25:42]  ⁴ tn Heb “going at her feet.”

[12:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you listen to his voice.”

[12:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” So also in v. 15.

[12:14]  ⁷ tn The words “all will be well” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “when.”

[13:8]  ⁹ tn This apparently refers to the instructions given by Samuel in 1 Sam 10:8. If so, several years had passed. On the relationship between chs. 10 and 13, see V. P. Long, The Art of Biblical History (FCI), 201-23.

[13:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”

[18:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the ears of.”

[29:6]  ¹² tn Heb “it is good in my eyes.” Cf. v. 7.

[29:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “your going forth and your coming in.” The expression is a merism.

[29:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “camp.”

[29:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “eyes.”

[29:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “good.”

[2:35]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[2:35]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he will walk about before my anointed one all the days.”

[14:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in your heart.”

[14:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Look, I am with you, according to your heart.” See the note at 13:14.

[28:23]  ²¹ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וַיִּפְצְרוּ (vayyiftseru, “and they pressed”; from the root פצר, psr) rather than the MT’s וַיִּפְרְצוּ (vayyifretsu, “and they broke forth”; from the root פרצ, prs).

[28:23]  ²² tn Heb “he listened to their voice.”

[28:21]  ²³ tn Heb “listened to your voice.”

[28:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”

[15:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22]  ²⁶ tn Heb “look.”

[15:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22]  ²⁸ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

[12:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.”

[12:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to all which you said to me.”

[12:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “and I have installed a king over you.”

[15:20]  ³² tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ³³ tn Heb “journey.”

[15:24]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

[25:35]  ³⁷ tn Heb “up.”

[25:35]  ³⁸ tn Heb “your voice.”

[25:35]  ³⁹ tn Heb “I have lifted up your face.”

[28:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “listen to the voice of the Lord.”

[25:27]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “blessing.”

[25:27]  ⁴² tn Heb “are walking at the feet of.”

[6:10]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and the men did so.”

[8:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “walk in” (also in v. 5).

[8:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and they turned aside after unjust gain and took bribes and perverted justice.”

[10:7]  ⁴⁶ sn In light of Saul’s commission to be Israel’s deliverer (see v. 1), it is likely that some type of military action against the Philistines (see v.5) is implied.

[11:10]  ⁴⁷ tn The second masculine plural forms in this quotation indicate that Nahash and his army are addressed.

[11:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “according to all that is good in your eyes.”

[15:19]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:19]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

[23:20]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “to all the desire of your soul.”

[25:12]  ⁵² tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:18]  ⁵³ tc A few Hebrew mss and the LXX read “villages; the large rock…[is witness] until this very day.”

[25:8]  ⁵⁴ 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]  ⁵⁵ tn This refers to the ten servants sent by David.

[25:8]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “whatever your hand will find.”

[8:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).

[8:8]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “according to all the deeds which they have done.”

[10:10]  ⁵⁹ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “he” (in which case the referent would be Saul alone).

[10:10]  tn Heb “they”; the referents (Saul and his servant) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:10]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:20]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “you have done all this evil.”

[13:13]  ⁶² tn Or “kept.”

[13:13]  ⁶³ tn Heb “commanded.”

[16:10]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “caused seven of his sons to pass before Samuel.” This could be taken as referring to seven sons in addition to the three mentioned before this, but 1 Sam 17:12 says Jesse had eight sons, not eleven. 1 Chr 2:13-15 lists only seven sons, including David. However, 1 Chr 27:18 mentions an additional son, named Elihu.

[20:26]  ⁶⁵ tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.

[20:26]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.

[2:16]  ⁶⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”

[9:6]  ⁶⁸ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[10:18]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “hand” (also later in this verse).

[14:36]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “plunder.”

[14:36]  ⁷² tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”

[14:36]  ⁷³ tn Heb “and there will not be left among them a man.”

[14:36]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “all that is good in your eyes.” So also in v. 40.

[15:6]  ⁷⁵ 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]).

[21:5]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “servants’.”

[22:15]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “set a matter against.”

[22:15]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “small or great.”

[24:4]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “is good in your eyes.”