1 Samuel 1:18

1:18 She said, “May I, your servant, find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and got something to eat. ¹  Her face no longer looked sad.

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 3:18

3:18 So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli ²  said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” ³ 

1 Samuel 5:7

5:7 When the people ⁴  of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, for he has attacked ⁵  both us and our god Dagon!”

1 Samuel 8:22

8:22 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do as they say ⁶  and install a king over them.” Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Each of you go back to his own city.”

1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ⁷ Nahash ⁸  the Ammonite marched ⁹  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

1 Samuel 11:12

Saul Is Established as King

11:12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who were the ones asking, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Hand over those men so we may execute them!”

1 Samuel 12:20

12:20 Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed sinned. ¹⁰  However, don’t turn aside from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart.

1 Samuel 14:38

14:38 Then Saul said, “All you leaders of the army come here. Find out ¹¹  how this sin occurred today.

1 Samuel 15:1

Saul Is Rejected as King

15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “I was the one the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord says. ¹² 

1 Samuel 15:17

15:17 Samuel said, “Is it not true that when you were insignificant in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord chose ¹³  you as king over Israel.

1 Samuel 15:24

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ¹⁴  and what you said as well. ¹⁵  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 15:32

Samuel Puts Agag to Death

15:32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of the Amalekites.” So Agag came to him trembling, ¹⁷  thinking to himself, ¹⁸  “Surely death is bitter!” ¹⁹ 

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ²⁰  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

1 Samuel 17:17

17:17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take your brothers this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread; go quickly ²¹  to the camp to your brothers.

1 Samuel 17:39

17:39 David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them. ²²  David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them.

1 Samuel 17:55

17:55 ²³ Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”

1 Samuel 20:36

20:36 He said to his servant, “Run, find the arrows that I am about to shoot.” As the servant ran, Jonathan ²⁴  shot the arrow beyond him.

1 Samuel 21:8

21:8 David said to Ahimelech, “Is there no sword or spear here at your disposal? I don’t have my own sword or equipment in hand due to the urgency of the king’s instructions.”

1 Samuel 24:9

24:9 David said to Saul, “Why do you pay attention when men say, ‘David is seeking to do you harm’?

[1:18]  ¹ tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack the words “and got something to eat.”

[3:18]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

[5:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “men.”

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “for his hand is severe upon.”

[8:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “listen to their voice.”

[11:1]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

[11:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”

[12:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you have done all this evil.”

[14:38]  ¹¹ tn Heb “know and see.”

[15:1]  ¹² tn Heb “to the voice of the words of the Lord” (so KJV).

[15:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “anointed.”

[15:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

[15:32]  ¹⁷ tn The MT reading מַעֲדַנֹּת (ma’adannot, literally, “bonds,” used here adverbially, “in bonds”) is difficult. The word is found only here and in Job 38:31. Part of the problem lies in determining the root of the word. Some scholars have taken it to be from the root ענד (’nd, “to bind around”), but this assumes a metathesis of two of the letters of the root. Others take it from the root עדן (’dn) with the meaning “voluptuously,” but this does not seem to fit the context. It seems better to understand the word to be from the root מעד (m’d, “to totter” or “shake”). In that case it describes the fear that Agag experienced in realizing the mortal danger that he faced as he approached Samuel. This is the way that the LXX translators understood the word, rendering it by the Greek participle τρέμον (tremon, “trembling”).

[15:32]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and Agag said.”

[15:32]  ¹⁹ tc The text is difficult here. With the LXX, two Old Latin mss, and the Syriac Peshitta it is probably preferable to delete סָר (sar, “is past”) of the MT; it looks suspiciously like a dittograph of the following word מַר (mar, “bitter”). This further affects the interpretation of Agag’s comment. In the MT he comes to Samuel confidently assured that the danger is over (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV “Surely the bitterness of death is past,” along with NLT, CEV). However, it seems more likely that Agag realized that his fortunes had suddenly taken a turn for the worse and that the clemency he had enjoyed from Saul would not be his lot from Samuel. The present translation thus understands Agag to approach not confidently but in the stark realization that his death is imminent (“Surely death is bitter!”). Cf. NAB “So it is bitter death!”; NRSV “Surely this is the bitterness of death”; TEV “What a bitter thing it is to die!”

[16:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[17:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “run.”

[17:39]  ²² tn Heb “he had not tested.”

[17:55]  ²³ tc Most LXX mss lack 17:55–18:5.

[20:36]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.