1 Samuel 2:9

2:9 He watches over ¹  his holy ones, ² 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

1 Samuel 15:20

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ³  the Lord! I went on the campaign ⁴  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

[2:9]  ¹ tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:9]  ² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.

[15:20]  ³ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “journey.”