1 Samuel 4:4

4:4 So the army ¹  sent to Shiloh, and they took from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits between the cherubim. Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

1 Samuel 5:11

5:11 So they assembled ²  all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us ³  and our ⁴  people!” The terror ⁵  of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 6:7-8

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. 6:8 Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart, and put in a chest beside it the gold objects you are sending to him as a guilt offering. You should then send it on its way.

1 Samuel 6:19

6:19 But the Lord ⁷  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ⁸  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

1 Samuel 7:10

7:10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. ⁹  But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by ¹⁰  Israel.

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. ¹¹  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ¹² 

1 Samuel 10:1

Samuel Anoints Saul

10:1 Then Samuel took a small container of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s ¹³  head. Samuel ¹⁴  kissed him and said, “The Lord has chosen you ¹⁵  to lead his people Israel! You will rule over the Lord’s people and you will deliver them from the power of the enemies who surround them. This will be your sign that the Lord has chosen ¹⁶  you as leader over his inheritance. ¹⁷ 

1 Samuel 10:3

10:3 “As you continue on from there, you will come to the tall tree of Tabor. At that point three men who are going up to God at Bethel ¹⁸  will meet you. One of them will be carrying three young goats, one of them will be carrying three round loaves of bread, and one of them will be carrying a container of wine.

1 Samuel 12:2

12:2 Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day.

1 Samuel 12:17

12:17 Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”

1 Samuel 14:27

14:27 But Jonathan had not heard about the oath his father had made the army take. He extended the end of his staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb. When he ate it, ¹⁹  his eyes gleamed. ²⁰ 

1 Samuel 15:9

15:9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, ²¹  and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. ²²  They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised ²³  and worthless.

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 15:30

15:30 Saul ²⁴  again replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Go back with me so I may worship the Lord your God.”

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. ²⁵  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ²⁶  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ²⁷ 

1 Samuel 17:26

17:26 David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation? ²⁸  For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?”

1 Samuel 17:47

17:47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

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 ²⁹  enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)

1 Samuel 19:17

19:17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped!” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away or else I will kill you!’” ³⁰ 

1 Samuel 20:2

20:2 Jonathan ³¹  said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing ³²  large or small without making me aware of it. ³³  Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

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; ³⁴  get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem.

1 Samuel 21:11

21:11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one that they sing about when they dance, saying,

‘Saul struck down his thousands,

But David his tens of thousands’?”

1 Samuel 22:6

Saul Executes the Priests

22:6 But Saul found out the whereabouts of David and the men who were with him. ³⁵  Now Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree at an elevated location with his spear in hand and all his servants stationed around him.

1 Samuel 23:17

23:17 He said to him, “Don’t be afraid! For the hand of my father Saul cannot find you. You will rule over Israel, and I will be your second in command. Even my father Saul realizes this.”

1 Samuel 23:26

23:26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, while David and his men went on the other side of the mountain. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, but Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men so they could capture them.

1 Samuel 25:2

David Marries Abigail the Widow of Nabal

25:2 There was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. This man was very wealthy; ³⁶  he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

1 Samuel 25:18

25:18 So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers ³⁷  of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs ³⁸  of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys

1 Samuel 25:21

25:21 Now David had been thinking, ³⁹  “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

1 Samuel 25:36

25:36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time ⁴⁰  and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing ⁴¹  until morning’s light.

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 ⁴²  right through him into the ground with one swift jab! ⁴³  A second jab won’t be necessary!”

1 Samuel 27:11

27:11 Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, “This way they can’t tell on us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” Such was his practice the entire time ⁴⁴  that he lived in the country of the Philistines.

1 Samuel 28:3

28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. ⁴⁵  In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums ⁴⁶  and magicians ⁴⁷  from the land.

1 Samuel 28:7-8

28:7 So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, ⁴⁸  so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.”

28:8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.” ⁴⁹ 

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 ⁵⁰  serving ⁵¹  with me in the army. ⁵²  I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion ⁵³  of the leaders, you are not reliable. ⁵⁴ 

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!”

1 Samuel 30:21

30:21 Then David approached the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to go with him, ⁵⁵  those whom they had left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and the people who were with him. When David approached the people, he asked how they were doing.

1 Samuel 31:4

31:4 Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it.

[4:4]  ¹ tn Or “people.”

[5:11]  ² tn Heb “and they sent and gathered.”

[5:11]  ³ tn Heb “me.”

[5:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “my.”

[5:11]  ⁵ tn Or “panic.”

[5:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “the hand of God was very heavy there.”

[6:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:19]  ⁸ tc The number 50,070 is surprisingly large, although it finds almost unanimous textual support in the MT and in the ancient versions. Only a few medieval Hebrew mss lack “50,000,” reading simply “70” instead. However, there does not seem to be sufficient external evidence to warrant reading 70 rather than 50,070, although that is done by a number of recent translations (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The present translation (reluctantly) follows the MT and the ancient versions here.

[7:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “approached for battle against Israel.”

[7:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “before.”

[9:6]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ¹² tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[10:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you?” The question draws attention to the fact and is a rhetorical way of affirming the Lord’s choice of Saul. The translation reflects the rhetorical force of the question.

[10:1]  ¹⁶ tn That is, “anointed.”

[10:1]  ¹⁷ tc The MT reads simply “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you over his inheritance for a leader?” The translation follows the LXX. The MT apparently suffers from parablepsis, whereby a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the expression “the Lord has anointed you” to the second occurrence of this expression at the end of v. 1. This mistake caused the accidental omission of the intervening material in the LXX, which appears to preserve the original Hebrew text here.

[10:3]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[14:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he returned his hand to his mouth.”

[14:27]  ²⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading “gleamed,” rather than the Kethib, “saw.”

[15:9]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “good.”

[15:9]  ²³ 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).

[15:30]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:1]  ²⁵ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ²⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

[17:26]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and turns aside humiliation from upon Israel.”

[18:25]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the king’s.”

[19:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Send me away! Why should I kill you?” The question has the force of a threat in this context. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 325, 26.

[20:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ³² tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).

[20:2]  ³³ tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”

[20:21]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from you and here.”

[22:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and Saul heard that David and the men who were with him were known.”

[25:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “great.”

[25:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “skins.”

[25:18]  ³⁸ sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.

[25:21]  ³⁹ tn Heb “said.”

[25:36]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and the heart of Nabal was good upon him”; NASB, NRSV “Nabal’s heart was merry within him”; NIV “he was in high spirits”; NCV, TEV “was in a good mood”; CEV “was very drunk and feeling good.”

[25:36]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and she did not tell him a thing, small or large.”

[26:8]  ⁴² 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]  ⁴³ tn Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”

[27:11]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “all the days.”

[28:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”

[28:3]  ⁴⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “mediums” actually refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits (see 2 Kgs 21:6). In v. 7 the witch of Endor is called the owner of a ritual pit. See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401. Here the term refers by metonymy to the owner of such a pit (see H. A. Hoffner, TDOT 1:133).

[28:3]  ⁴⁷ sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.

[28:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “an owner of a ritual pit.” See the note at v. 3.

[28:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “Use divination for me with the ritual pit and bring up for me the one whom I say to you.”

[29:6]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “it is good in my eyes.” Cf. v. 7.

[29:6]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “your going forth and your coming in.” The expression is a merism.

[29:6]  ⁵² tn Heb “camp.”

[29:6]  ⁵³ tn Heb “eyes.”

[29:6]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “good.”

[30:21]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “David.” The pronoun (“him”) has been substituted for the proper name in the translation for stylistic reasons.