1 Samuel 2:16

2:16 If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ¹  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

1 Samuel 2:27

The Lord Judges the House of Eli

2:27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not plainly ²  reveal myself to your ancestor’s ³  house when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh?

1 Samuel 9:20

9:20 Don’t be concerned ⁴  about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found. Whom does all Israel desire? Is it not you, and all your father’s family?” ⁵ 

1 Samuel 10:1

Samuel Anoints Saul

10:1 Then Samuel took a small container of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s ⁶  head. Samuel ⁷  kissed him and said, “The Lord has chosen you ⁸  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 ⁹  you as leader over his inheritance. ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 20:30

20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan ¹¹  and said to him, “You stupid traitor! ¹²  Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse?

1 Samuel 22:15

22:15 Was it just today that I began to inquire of God on his behalf? Far be it from me! The king should not accuse ¹³  his servant or any of my father’s house. For your servant is not aware of all this – not in whole or in part!” ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 29:3

29:3 The leaders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the leaders of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me for quite some time? ¹⁵  I have found no fault with him from the day of his defection until the present time!” ¹⁶ 

[2:16]  ¹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”

[2:27]  ² tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[2:27]  ³ tn Heb “to your father’s” (also in vv. 28, 30).

[9:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not fix your heart.”

[9:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “and all the house of your father.”

[10:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn That is, “anointed.”

[10:1]  ¹⁰ 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.

[20:30]  ¹¹ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss include the words “his son” here.

[20:30]  ¹² tn Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.

[22:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “set a matter against.”

[22:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “small or great.”

[29:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “these days or these years.”

[29:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the day of his falling [away] until this day.”