1 Samuel 6:19

6:19 But the Lord ¹  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

1 Samuel 15:35--16:1

15:35 Until the day he ³  died Samuel did not see Saul again. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

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. ⁴  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ⁵  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ⁶ 

[6:19]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:19]  ² 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.

[15:35]  ³ tn That is, Samuel.

[16:1]  ⁴ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”