1 Samuel 2:33-34

2:33 Any one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause your ¹  eyes to fail ²  and will cause you grief. ³  All of those born to your family ⁴  will die in the prime of life. ⁵  2:34 This will be a confirming sign for you that will be fulfilled through your two sons, ⁶  Hophni and Phinehas: in a single day they both will die!

[2:33]  ¹ tc The LXX, a Qumran ms, and a few old Latin mss have the third person pronominal suffix “his” here.

[2:33]  ² tn Heb “to cause your eyes to fail.” Elsewhere this verb, when used of eyes, refers to bloodshot eyes resulting from weeping, prolonged staring, or illness (see Lev 26:16; Pss 69:3; 119:82; Lam 2:11; 4:17).

[2:33]  ³ tn Heb “and to cause your soul grief.”

[2:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all the increase of your house.”

[2:33]  ⁵ tc The text is difficult. The MT literally says “they will die [as] men.” Apparently the meaning is that they will be cut off in the prime of their life without reaching old age. The LXX and a Qumran ms, however, have the additional word “sword” (“they will die by the sword of men”). This is an easier reading (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), but that fact is not in favor of its originality.

[2:34]  ⁶ tn Heb “and this to you [is] the sign which will come to both of your sons.”