1 Samuel 4:3

4:3 When the army ¹  came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by ²  the Philistines? Let’s take with us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. When it is with us, it will save us ³  from the hand of our enemies.

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. ⁴  Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you ⁵  from the hand of the Philistines.”

1 Samuel 17:28

17:28 When David’s ⁶  oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry ⁷  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! ⁸  You have come down here to watch the battle!”

1 Samuel 17:52

17:52 Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward, shouting a battle cry. ⁹  They chased the Philistines to the valley ¹⁰  and to the very gates of Ekron. The Philistine corpses lay fallen along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.

1 Samuel 25:8

25:8 Ask your own servants; they can tell you! May my servants find favor in your sight, for we have come ¹¹  at the time of a holiday. Please provide us – your servants ¹²  and your son David – with whatever you can spare.” ¹³ 

[4:3]  ¹ tn Or “people.”

[4:3]  ² tn Heb “before.”

[4:3]  ³ tn Heb “and it will come in our midst and it will save.” After the cohortative (see “let’s take”), the prefixed verbal forms with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose or result. The translation understands the ark to be the subject of the third masculine singular verbs, although it is possible to understand the Lord as the subject. In the latter case, one should translate, “when he is with us, he will save us.”

[7:3]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Following imperatives, the jussive verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[17:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “the anger of Eliab became hot.”

[17:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “the wickedness of your heart.”

[17:52]  ⁹ tn Heb “arose and cried out.”

[17:52]  ¹⁰ tc Most of the LXX ms tradition has here “Gath.”

[25:8]  ¹¹ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בָּאנוּ (ba’nu, “we have come”) rather than the MT’s בָּנוּ (banu, “we have built”).

[25:8]  ¹² tn This refers to the ten servants sent by David.

[25:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “whatever your hand will find.”