1 Samuel 1:5

1:5 But he would give a double ¹  portion to Hannah, because he especially loved her. ²  Now the Lord had not enabled her to have children. ³ 

1 Samuel 8:14

8:14 He will take your best fields and vineyards and give them to his own servants.

1 Samuel 10:26

10:26 Even Saul went to his home in Gibeah. With him went some brave men whose hearts God had touched.

1 Samuel 13:9

13:9 So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” Then he offered a burnt offering.

1 Samuel 13:17

13:17 Raiding bands went out from the camp of the Philistines in three groups. One band turned toward the road leading to Ophrah by the land of Shual;

1 Samuel 14:44

14:44 Saul said, “God will punish me severely if Jonathan doesn’t die!” ⁴ 

1 Samuel 16:15

16:15 Then Saul’s servants said to him, “Look, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you!”

1 Samuel 16:22

16:22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse saying, “Let David be my servant, for I really like him.” ⁵ 

1 Samuel 17:19

17:19 They are with Saul and the whole Israelite army ⁶  in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”

1 Samuel 17:22

17:22 After David had entrusted his cargo to the care of the supply officer, ⁷  he ran to the battlefront. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.

1 Samuel 17:30

17:30 Then he turned from those who were nearby to someone else and asked the same question, ⁸  but they ⁹  gave him the same answer as before.

1 Samuel 18:19

18:19 When the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she instead was given in marriage to Adriel, who was from Meholah.

1 Samuel 19:16

19:16 When the messengers came, they found only the idol on the bed and the quilt made of goat’s hair at its head.

1 Samuel 20:15

20:15 Don’t ever cut off your loyalty to my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth

1 Samuel 20:17

20:17 Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life. ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 20:23-24

20:23 With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the Lord is the witness between us forever!” ¹¹ 

20:24 So David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal.

1 Samuel 21:10

21:10 So on that day David arose and fled from Saul. He went to King Achish of Gath.

1 Samuel 23:6

David Eludes Saul Again

23:6 Now when Abiathar son of Ahimelech had fled to David at Keilah, he had brought with him an ephod. ¹² 

1 Samuel 23:9

23:9 When David realized that Saul was planning to harm him, ¹³  he told Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod!”

1 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Now at your own discretion, ¹⁴  O king, come down. Delivering him into the king’s hand will be our responsibility.”

1 Samuel 23:27-28

23:27 But a messenger came to Saul saying, “Come quickly, for the Philistines have raided the land!”

23:28 So Saul stopped pursuing David and went to confront the Philistines. Therefore that place is called Sela Hammahlekoth. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 24:14

24:14 Who has the king of Israel come out after? Who is it that you are pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea?

1 Samuel 25:5-6

25:5 he ¹⁶  sent ten servants, ¹⁷  saying to them, ¹⁸  “Go up to Carmel to see Nabal and give him greetings in my name. ¹⁹  25:6 Then you will say to my brother, ²⁰  “Peace to you and your house! Peace to all that is yours!

1 Samuel 25:44

25:44 (Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.)

1 Samuel 29:5

29:5 Isn’t this David, of whom they sang as they danced, ²¹ 

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,

but David his tens of thousands’?”

1 Samuel 29:7

29:7 So turn and leave ²²  in peace. You must not do anything that the leaders of the Philistines consider improper!” ²³ 

[1:5]  ¹ tn The exact sense of the Hebrew word אַפָּיִם (’appayim, “two faces”) is not certain here. It is most likely used with the preceding expression (“one portion of two faces”) to mean a portion double than normally received. Although evidence for this use of the word derives primarily from Aramaic rather than from Hebrew usage, it provides an understanding that fits the context here better than other suggestions for the word do. The meaning “double” is therefore adopted in the present translation. Other possibilities for the meaning of the word include the following: “heavily” (cf. Vulg., tristis) and “worthy” or “choice” (cf. KJV and Targum). Some scholars have followed the LXX here, emending the word to אֶפֶס (’efes) and translating it as “but” or “however.” This seems unnecessary. The translators of the LXX may simply have been struggling to make sense of the word rather than following a Hebrew text that was different from the MT here.

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “for Hannah he loved.” Repetition of the proper name would seem redundant in contemporary English, so the pronoun (“her”) has been used here for clarity. The translation also adds the adverb “especially” to clarify the meaning of the text. Without this addition one might get the impression that only Hannah, not Peninnah, was loved by her husband. But the point of the text is that Hannah was his favorite.

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “and the Lord had closed her womb.” So also in v. 6. The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is pertinent to the story.

[14:44]  ⁴ tn Heb “So God will do and so he will add, surely you will certainly die, Jonathan.”

[16:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “Let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my eyes.”

[17:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “all the men of Israel.”

[17:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “the guard of the equipment.”

[17:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “and spoke according to this word.”

[17:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “the people.”

[20:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”

[20:23]  ¹¹ tc Heb “the Lord [is] between me and between you forever.” The translation assumes that the original text read עֵד עַד־עוֹלָם (’ed ’ad-’olam), “a witness forever,” with the noun “a witness” accidentally falling out of the text by haplography. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.

[23:6]  ¹² tn Heb “an ephod went down in his hand.”

[23:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “Saul was planning the evil against him.”

[23:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to all the desire of your soul.”

[23:28]  ¹⁵ sn The name הַמַּחְלְקוֹת סֶלַע (Sela Hammakhleqoth) probably means “Rock of Divisions” in Hebrew, in the sense that Saul and David parted company there (cf. NAB “Gorge of Divisions”; TEV “Separation Hill”). This etymology assumes that the word derives from the Hebrew root II חלק (khlq, “to divide”; HALOT 322 s.v. II חלק). However, there is another root I חלק, which means “to be smooth or slippery” (HALOT 322 s.v. I חלק). If the word is taken from this root, the expression would mean “Slippery Rock.”

[25:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “David”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun has been used in the translation.

[25:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “young men.”

[25:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and David said to the young men.”

[25:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and inquire concerning him in my name in regard to peace.”

[25:6]  ²⁰ tc The text is difficult here. The MT and most of the early versions support the reading לֶחָי (lekhai, “to life,” or “to the one who lives”). Some of the older English versions (KJV, ASV; cf. NKJV) took the expression to mean “to him who lives (in prosperity),” but this translation requires reading a good deal into the words. While the expression could have the sense of “Long life to you!” (cf. NIV, NJPS) or perhaps “Good luck to you!” this seems somewhat redundant in light of the salutation that follows in the context. The Latin Vulgate has fratribus meis (“to my brothers”), which suggests that Jerome understood the Hebrew word to have an alef that is absent in the MT (i.e., לֶאֱחָי, le’ekhay). Jerome’s plural, however, remains a problem, since in the context David is addressing a single individual, namely Nabal, and not a group. However, it is likely that the Vulgate witnesses to a consonantal Hebrew text that is to be preferred here, especially if the word were to be revocalized as a singular rather than a plural. While it is impossible to be certain about this reading, the present translation essentially follows the Vulgate in reading “my brother” (so also NJB; cf. NAB, RSV, NRSV).

[29:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “in dances.”

[29:7]  ²² tn Heb “go.”

[29:7]  ²³ tn Heb “and you must not do evil in the eyes of the leaders of the Philistines.”