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 17:20

17:20 So David got up early in the morning and entrusted the flock to someone else who would watch over it. ⁴  After loading up, he went just as Jesse had instructed him. He arrived at the camp ⁵  as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting its battle cry.

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? ⁶  For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?”

1 Samuel 17:36

17:36 Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. ⁷  For he has defied the armies of the living God!”

1 Samuel 17:45

17:45 But David replied to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom you have defied!

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?”

[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.”

[17:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “to a guard”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “with a keeper”; NIV “with a shepherd.” Since in contemporary English “guard” sounds like someone at a military installation or a prison, the present translation uses “to someone else who would watch over it.”

[17:20]  ⁵ tn Or “entrenchment.”

[17:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “and turns aside humiliation from upon Israel.”

[17:36]  ⁷ tc The LXX includes here the following words not found in the MT: “Should I not go and smite him, and remove today reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised one?”