1 Samuel 2:6-10

2:6 The Lord both kills and gives life;

he brings down to the grave ¹  and raises up.

2:7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;

he humbles and he exalts.

2:8 He lifts the weak ²  from the dust;

he raises ³  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ⁴ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

2:9 He watches over ⁵  his holy ones, ⁶ 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

2:10 The Lord shatters ⁷  his adversaries; ⁸ 

he thunders against them from ⁹  the heavens.

The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.

He will strengthen ¹⁰  his king

and exalt the power ¹¹  of his anointed one.” ¹² 

1 Samuel 3:9

3:9 So Eli said to Samuel, “Go back and lie down. When he calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place.

1 Samuel 3:17-19

3:17 Eli ¹³  said, “What message did he speak to you? Don’t conceal it from me. God will judge you severely ¹⁴  if you conceal from me anything that he said to you!”

3:18 So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli ¹⁵  said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” ¹⁶  3:19 Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. None of his prophecies fell to the ground unfulfilled. ¹⁷ 

1 Samuel 3:21

3:21 Then the Lord again appeared in Shiloh, for it was in Shiloh that the Lord had revealed himself to Samuel ¹⁸  through the word of the Lord. ¹⁹ 

1 Samuel 5:6

5:6 The Lord attacked ²⁰  the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of ²¹  both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores. ²² 

1 Samuel 5:9

5:9 But after it had been moved the Lord attacked ²³  that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city ²⁴  with sores. ²⁵ 

1 Samuel 6:5

6:5 You should make images of the sores and images of the mice ²⁶  that are destroying the land. You should honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his grip on you, your gods, and your land. ²⁷ 

1 Samuel 6:19

6:19 But the Lord ²⁸  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²⁹  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

1 Samuel 7:3

7:3 Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. ³⁰  Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you ³¹  from the hand of the Philistines.”

1 Samuel 7:8

7:8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep ³²  crying out to the Lord our ³³  God so that he may save us ³⁴  from the hand of the Philistines!”

1 Samuel 7:10

7:10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. ³⁵  But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by ³⁶  Israel.

1 Samuel 12:3

12:3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king. ³⁷  Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me, ³⁸  and I will return it to you!”

1 Samuel 12:5

12:5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king ³⁹  is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.” ⁴⁰  They said, “He is witness!”

1 Samuel 12:7

12:7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you ⁴¹  before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. ⁴² 

1 Samuel 12:9

12:9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave ⁴³  them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s ⁴⁴  army, ⁴⁵  and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

1 Samuel 12:22

12:22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. ⁴⁶  The Lord was pleased to make you his own people.

1 Samuel 12:24

12:24 However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you!

1 Samuel 13:13-14

13:13 Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed ⁴⁷  the commandment that the Lord your God gave ⁴⁸  you. Had you done that, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever! 13:14 But now your kingdom will not continue! The Lord has sought out ⁴⁹  for himself a man who is loyal to him ⁵⁰  and the Lord has appointed ⁵¹  him to be leader over his people, for you have not obeyed what the Lord commanded you.”

1 Samuel 14:37

14:37 So Saul asked God, “Should I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.

1 Samuel 15:16

15:16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait a minute! ⁵²  Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” Saul ⁵³  said to him, “Tell me.”

1 Samuel 15:20

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ⁵⁴  the Lord! I went on the campaign ⁵⁵  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 15:28

15:28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to one of your colleagues who is better than you!

1 Samuel 16:6

16:6 When they arrived, Samuel ⁵⁶  noticed ⁵⁷  Eliab and said to himself, ⁵⁸  “Surely, here before the Lord stands his chosen king!” ⁵⁹ 

1 Samuel 24:6

24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, ⁶⁰  by extending my hand against him. After all, ⁶¹  he is the Lord’s chosen one.” ⁶² 

1 Samuel 25:29-30

25:29 When someone sets out to chase you and to take your life, the life of my lord will be wrapped securely in the bag ⁶³  of the living by the Lord your God. But he will sling away the lives of your enemies from the sling’s pocket! 25:30 The Lord will do for my lord everything that he promised you, ⁶⁴  and he will make ⁶⁵  you a leader over Israel.

1 Samuel 25:32

25:32 Then David said to Abigail, “Praised ⁶⁶  be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you this day to meet me!

1 Samuel 26:9

26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill him! Who can extend his hand against the Lord’s chosen one ⁶⁷  and remain guiltless?”

1 Samuel 26:11

26:11 But may the Lord prevent me from extending my hand against the Lord’s chosen one! Now take the spear by Saul’s head and the jug of water, and let’s get out of here!”

1 Samuel 26:24

26:24 In the same way that I valued your life this day, ⁶⁸  may the Lord value my life ⁶⁹  and deliver me from all danger.”

1 Samuel 28:17

28:17 The Lord has done exactly as I prophesied! ⁷⁰  The Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David!

1 Samuel 28:19

28:19 The Lord will hand you and Israel over to the Philistines! ⁷¹  Tomorrow both you and your sons will be with me. ⁷²  The Lord will also hand the army ⁷³  of Israel over to the Philistines!”

1 Samuel 30:23

30:23 But David said, “No! You shouldn’t do this, my brothers. Look at what the Lord has given us! ⁷⁴  He has protected us and has delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.

[2:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Sheol”; NAB “the nether world”; CEV “the world of the dead.”

[2:8]  ² tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

[2:8]  ³ tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

[2:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”

[2:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:9]  ⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.

[2:10]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this line and in the next two lines are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:10]  ⁸ tc The present translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate in reading the plural (“his adversaries,” similarly many other English versions) rather than the singular (“his adversary”) of the Kethib.

[2:10]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew preposition here has the sense of “from within.”

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this and the next line are understood as indicating what is anticipated and translated with the future tense, because at the time of Hannah’s prayer Israel did not yet have a king.

[2:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the horn,” here a metaphor for power or strength. Cf. NCV “make his appointed king strong”; NLT “increases the might of his anointed one.”

[2:10]  ¹² tc The LXX greatly expands v. 10 with an addition that seems to be taken from Jer 9:23-24.

[2:10]  sn The anointed one is the anticipated king of Israel, as the preceding line makes clear.

[3:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “So God will do to you and thus he will add.” The verbal forms in this pronouncement are imperfects, not jussives, but the statement has the force of a curse or warning. One could translate, “May God do to you and thus may he add.”

[3:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

[3:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he did not cause to fall from all his words to the ground.”

[3:21]  ¹⁸ tc The LXX has a lengthy addition here: “And Samuel was acknowledged to be a prophet of the Lord in all Israel, from one end to the other. Eli was very old and, as for his sons, their way kept getting worse and worse before the Lord.” The Hebraic nature of the Greek syntax used here suggests that the LXX translator was accurately rendering a Hebrew variant and not simply expanding the text on his own initiative.

[3:21]  ¹⁹ tn The chapter division at this point is inappropriate. 1 Sam 4:1a is best understood as the conclusion to chap. 3 rather than the beginning of chap. 4.

[5:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was heavy upon.”

[5:6]  ²¹ tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:6]  ²² tc The LXX and Vulgate add the following: “And mice multiplied in their land, and the terror of death was throughout the entire city.”

[5:6]  tn Or “tumors” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “growths on their skin”; KJV “emerods”; NAB “hemorrhoids.”

[5:9]  ²³ tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was against the city.”

[5:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he struck the men of the city from small and to great.”

[5:9]  ²⁵ tn See the note on this term in v. 6. Cf. KJV “and they had emerods in their secret parts.”

[6:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “your mice.” A Qumran ms has simply “the mice.”

[6:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Perhaps he will lighten his hand from upon you and from upon your gods and from upon your land.”

[6:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:19]  ²⁹ 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.

[7:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural; also in the following verse). The words “images of” are supplied for clarity.

[7:3]  sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. The presence of Ashtarot in Israel is a sign of pervasive pagan and idolatrous influences; hence Samuel calls for their removal. See 1 Sam 31:10, where the Philistines deposit the armor of the deceased Saul in the temple of the Ashtarot, and 1 Kgs 11:5, 33; 2 Kgs 23:13, where Solomon is faulted for worshiping the Ashtarot.

[7:3]  ³¹ tn Following imperatives, the jussive verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[7:8]  ³² tn Heb “don’t stop.”

[7:8]  ³³ tc The LXX reads “your God” rather than the MT’s “our God.”

[7:8]  ³⁴ tn After the negated jussive, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[7:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “approached for battle against Israel.”

[7:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “before.”

[12:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

[12:3]  ³⁸ tn The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[12:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

[12:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.”

[12:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.”

[12:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”

[12:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “sold” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; NLT “he let them be conquered by Sisera.”

[12:9]  ⁴⁴ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[12:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.”

[12:22]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “on account of his great name.”

[13:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “kept.”

[13:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “commanded.”

[13:14]  ⁴⁹ tn This verb form, as well as the one that follows (“appointed”), indicates completed action from the standpoint of the speaker. This does not necessarily mean that the Lord had already conducted his search and made his choice, however. The forms may be used for rhetorical effect to emphasize the certainty of the action. The divine search for a new king is as good as done, emphasizing that the days of Saul’s dynasty are numbered.

[13:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “according to his heart.” The idiomatic expression means to be like-minded with another, as its use in 1 Sam 14:7 indicates.

[13:14]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “commanded.”

[15:16]  ⁵² tn Or perhaps “be quiet.”

[15:16]  ⁵³ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the singular (“he said”) rather than the plural (“they said”) of the Kethib.

[15:16]  tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:20]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “journey.”

[16:6]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:6]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “said”; the words “to himself” are implied, given the secrecy surrounding Samuel’s mission to Bethlehem (v. 2).

[16:6]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “his anointed one.”

[24:6]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “anointed.”

[24:6]  ⁶¹ tn Or “for.”

[24:6]  ⁶² tn Heb “anointed.”

[25:29]  ⁶³ tn Cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “bundle”; NLT “treasure pouch.”

[25:30]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “according to all which he spoke, the good concerning you.”

[25:30]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “appoint.”

[25:32]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “blessed” (also in vv. 33, 39).

[26:9]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “anointed” (also in vv. 11, 16, 23).

[26:24]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “your life was great this day in my eyes.”

[26:24]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “may my life be great in the eyes of the Lord.”

[28:17]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “just as he said by my hand.”

[28:19]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “And the Lord will give also Israel along with you into the hand of the Philistines.”

[28:19]  ⁷² tc With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the LXX has here “and tomorrow you and your sons with you will fall.”

[28:19]  ⁷³ tn Heb “camp.”

[30:23]  ⁷⁴ tc This clause is difficult in the MT. The present translation accepts the text as found in the MT and understands this clause to be elliptical, with an understood verb such as “look” or “consider.” On the other hand, the LXX seems to reflect a slightly different Hebrew text, reading “after” where the MT has “my brothers.” The Greek translation yields the following translation: “You should not do this after the Lord has delivered us.” Although the Greek reading should be taken seriously, it seems better to follow the MT here.