1 Samuel 1:3

1:3 Year after year ¹  this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord’s priests.

1 Samuel 2:13

2:13 Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: ²  Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork ³  in his hand.

1 Samuel 4:4

4:4 So the army ⁴  sent to Shiloh, and they took from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits between the cherubim. Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

1 Samuel 4:17

4:17 The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from ⁵  the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!”

1 Samuel 5:11

5:11 So they assembled ⁶  all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us ⁷  and our ⁸  people!” The terror ⁹  of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there. ¹⁰ 

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. ¹¹  Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you ¹²  from the hand of the Philistines.”

1 Samuel 7:6

7:6 After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed ¹³  there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel led ¹⁴  the people of Israel at Mizpah.

1 Samuel 9:26

9:26 They got up at dawn and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get up, so I can send you on your way.” So Saul got up and the two of them – he and Samuel – went outside.

1 Samuel 11:9

11:9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Here’s what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.’” When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy.

1 Samuel 12:2

12:2 Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day.

1 Samuel 12:5

12:5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king ¹⁵  is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.” ¹⁶  They said, “He is witness!”

1 Samuel 13:5

13:5 For the battle with Israel the Philistines had amassed 3,000 ¹⁷  chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.

1 Samuel 15:12

15:12 Then Samuel got up early to meet Saul the next morning. But Samuel was informed, “Saul has gone to Carmel where ¹⁸  he is setting up a monument for himself. Then Samuel left ¹⁹  and went down to Gilgal.” ²⁰ 

1 Samuel 17:28

17:28 When David’s ²¹  oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry ²²  with David and said, “Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! ²³  You have come down here to watch the battle!”

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 17:47

17:47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

1 Samuel 19:5

19:5 He risked his life ²⁴  when he struck down the Philistine and the Lord gave all Israel a great victory. When you saw it, you were happy. So why would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death for no reason?”

1 Samuel 20:2

20:2 Jonathan ²⁵  said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing ²⁶  large or small without making me aware of it. ²⁷  Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

1 Samuel 20:30

20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan ²⁸  and said to him, “You stupid traitor! ²⁹  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 21:5

21:5 David said to the priest, “Certainly women have been kept away from us, just as on previous occasions when I have set out. The soldiers’ ³⁰  equipment is holy, even on an ordinary journey. How much more so will they be holy today, along with their equipment!”

1 Samuel 21:9

David Goes to Gath

21:9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod. If you wish, take it for yourself. Other than that, there’s nothing here.” David said, “There’s nothing like it! Give it to me!”

1 Samuel 21:11

21:11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one that they sing about when they dance, saying,

‘Saul struck down his thousands,

But David his tens of thousands’?”

1 Samuel 22:13

22:13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and this son of Jesse? You gave ³¹  him bread and a sword and inquired of God on his behalf, so that he opposes ³²  me and waits in ambush, as is the case today!”

1 Samuel 22:17

22:17 Then the king said to the messengers ³³  who were stationed beside him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, for they too have sided ³⁴  with David! They knew he was fleeing, but they did not inform me.” But the king’s servants refused to harm ³⁵  the priests of the Lord.

1 Samuel 23:13

23:13 So David and his men, who numbered about six hundred, set out and left Keilah; they moved around from one place to another. ³⁶  When told that David had escaped from Keilah, Saul called a halt to his expedition.

1 Samuel 25:2

David Marries Abigail the Widow of Nabal

25:2 There was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. This man was very wealthy; ³⁷  he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

1 Samuel 25:18

25:18 So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers ³⁸  of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs ³⁹  of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys

1 Samuel 25:36

25:36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time ⁴⁰  and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing ⁴¹  until morning’s light.

1 Samuel 30:8

30:8 David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Should I pursue this raiding band? Will I overtake them?” He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them and carry out a rescue!”

1 Samuel 30:17

30:17 But David struck them down from twilight until the following evening. None of them escaped, with the exception of four hundred young men who got away on camels. ⁴² 

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “from days to days.”

[2:13]  ² tn Heb “the habit of the priests with the people [was this].”

[2:13]  ³ sn The Hebrew word occurs only twice in the OT, here and again in v. 14. Its exact meaning is not entirely clear, although from the context it appears to be a sacrificial tool used for retrieving things from boiling water.

[4:4]  ⁴ tn Or “people.”

[4:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “before.”

[5:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they sent and gathered.”

[5:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “me.”

[5:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “my.”

[5:11]  ⁹ tn Or “panic.”

[5:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the hand of God was very heavy there.”

[7:3]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Following imperatives, the jussive verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[7:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “said.”

[7:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “judged”; NAB “began to judge”; TEV “settled disputes among.”

[12:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

[12:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.”

[13:5]  ¹⁷ tn Many English versions (e.g., KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV) read “30,000” here.

[15:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and look.”

[15:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he turned and crossed over.”

[15:12]  ²⁰ tc At the end of v. 12 the LXX and one Old Latin ms include the following words not found in the MT: “to Saul. And behold, he was offering as a burnt offering to the Lord the best of the spoils that he had brought from the Amalekites.”

[17:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:28]  ²² tn Heb “the anger of Eliab became hot.”

[17:28]  ²³ tn Heb “the wickedness of your heart.”

[19:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he put his life into his hand.”

[20:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ²⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).

[20:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”

[20:30]  ²⁸ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss include the words “his son” here.

[20:30]  ²⁹ 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.

[21:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “servants’.”

[22:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “by giving.”

[22:13]  ³² tn Heb “rises up against.”

[22:17]  ³³ tn Heb “runners.”

[22:17]  ³⁴ tn Heb “their hand is.”

[22:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “to extend their hand to harm.”

[23:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “they went where they went.”

[25:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “great.”

[25:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “skins.”

[25:18]  ³⁹ sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.

[25:36]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and the heart of Nabal was good upon him”; NASB, NRSV “Nabal’s heart was merry within him”; NIV “he was in high spirits”; NCV, TEV “was in a good mood”; CEV “was very drunk and feeling good.”

[25:36]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and she did not tell him a thing, small or large.”

[30:17]  ⁴² tn Heb “who rode on camels and fled.”