1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ¹ Nahash ²  the Ammonite marched ³  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

1 Samuel 12:7

12:7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you ⁴  before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 13:12

13:12 I thought, ⁶  ‘Now the Philistines will come down on me at Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt obligated ⁷  to offer the burnt offering.”

1 Samuel 15:18

15:18 The Lord sent you on a campaign ⁸  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ⁹  have destroyed them.’

1 Samuel 18:8

18:8 This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, ¹⁰  “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?”

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 23:4

23:4 So David asked the Lord once again. But again the Lord replied, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”

1 Samuel 25:35

25:35 Then David took from her hand what she had brought to him. He said to her, “Go back ¹¹  to your home in peace. Be assured that I have listened to you ¹²  and responded favorably.” ¹³ 

1 Samuel 26:10

26:10 David went on to say, “As the Lord lives, the Lord himself will strike him down. Either his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and be swept away.

[11:1]  ¹ tc 4QSam^a and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.

[11:1]  ² sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

[11:1]  ³ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”

[12:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.”

[12:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”

[13:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “said.”

[13:12]  ⁷ tn Or “I forced myself” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, CEV); NAB “So in my anxiety I offered”; NIV “I felt compelled.”

[15:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “journey.”

[15:18]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum in reading the second person singular suffix (“you”) rather than the third person plural suffix of the MT (“they”).

[18:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “said.” So also in vv. 11, 17.

[25:35]  ¹¹ tn Heb “up.”

[25:35]  ¹² tn Heb “your voice.”

[25:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “I have lifted up your face.”