1 Samuel 4:8

4:8 Too bad for us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert!

1 Samuel 5:3

5:3 When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, ¹  Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.

1 Samuel 8:18

8:18 In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.” ² 

1 Samuel 9:17

9:17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, ³  “Here is the man that I told you about! He will rule over my people.”

1 Samuel 10:22

10:22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Has the man arrived here yet?” The Lord said, “He has hidden himself among the equipment.” ⁴ 

1 Samuel 12:1

12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done ⁵  everything you requested. ⁶  I have given you a king. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 14:11

14:11 When they ⁸  made themselves known to the Philistine garrison, the Philistines said, “Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes in which they hid themselves.”

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, ⁹  thinking to himself, ¹⁰  “Surely death is bitter!” ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 16:11

16:11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Is that all of the young men?” Jesse ¹²  replied, “There is still the youngest one, but he’s taking care of the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we cannot turn our attention to other things until he comes here.”

1 Samuel 18:22

18:22 Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.”

1 Samuel 20:5

20:5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. ¹³  You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now.

1 Samuel 20:9

20:9 Jonathan said, “Far be it from you to suggest this! If I were at all aware that my father had decided to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?”

1 Samuel 23:3

23:3 But David’s men said to him, “We are afraid while we are still here in Judah! What will it be like if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

1 Samuel 24:1

David Spares Saul’s Life

24:1 (24:2) When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him, “Look, David is in the desert of En Gedi.”

1 Samuel 24:9

24:9 David said to Saul, “Why do you pay attention when men say, ‘David is seeking to do you harm’?

1 Samuel 25:35

25:35 Then David took from her hand what she had brought to him. He said to her, “Go back ¹⁴  to your home in peace. Be assured that I have listened to you ¹⁵  and responded favorably.” ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 26:20

26:20 Now don’t let my blood fall to the ground away from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a flea the way one looks for a partridge ¹⁷  in the hill country.”

1 Samuel 26:25

26:25 Saul replied to David, “May you be rewarded, ¹⁸  my son David! You will without question be successful!” ¹⁹  So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

1 Samuel 27:12

27:12 So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself, ²⁰  “He is really hated ²¹  among his own people in ²²  Israel! From now on ²³  he will be my servant.”

1 Samuel 28:2

28:2 David replied to Achish, “That being the case, you will come to know what your servant can do!” Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard ²⁴  from now on.” ²⁵ 

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. ²⁶  I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. ²⁷ 

[5:3]  ¹ tc The LXX adds “they entered the temple of Dagon and saw.”

[8:18]  ² tc The LXX adds “because you have chosen for yourselves a king.”

[9:17]  ³ tn Heb “responded.”

[10:22]  ⁴ tn Or “baggage” (so many English versions); KJV “stuff”; TEV “supplies.”

[12:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.”

[12:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “to all which you said to me.”

[12:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I have installed a king over you.”

[14:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “the two of them.”

[15:32]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and Agag said.”

[15:32]  ¹¹ 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!”

[16:11]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jesse) has been specified in the translation both here and in v. 12 for clarity.

[20:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[25:35]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “up.”

[25:35]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your voice.”

[25:35]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I have lifted up your face.”

[26:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the calling [one],” which apparently refers to a partridge.

[26:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “blessed.”

[26:25]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you will certainly do and also you will certainly be able.” The infinitive absolutes placed before the finite verbal forms lend emphasis to the statement.

[27:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “saying.”

[27:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “he really stinks.” The expression is used figuratively here to describe the rejection and ostracism that David had experienced as a result of Saul’s hatred of him.

[27:12]  ²² tc Many medieval Hebrew mss lack the preposition “in.”

[27:12]  ²³ tn Heb “permanently.”

[28:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the guardian for my head.”

[28:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “all the days.”

[28:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “listened to your voice.”

[28:21]  ²⁷ tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”