1 Samuel 3:8

3:8 Then the Lord called Samuel a third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me!” Eli then realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy.

1 Samuel 4:18

4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli ¹  fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he ²  was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.

1 Samuel 9:2

9:2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.

1 Samuel 11:9

11:9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Here’s what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.’” When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy.

1 Samuel 12:17

12:17 Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”

1 Samuel 15:22

15:22 Then Samuel said,

“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as he does in obedience? ³ 

Certainly, ⁴  obedience ⁵  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ⁶  the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 16:13

16:13 So Samuel took the horn full of olive oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day onward. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

1 Samuel 17:20

17:20 So David got up early in the morning and entrusted the flock to someone else who would watch over it. ⁷  After loading up, he went just as Jesse had instructed him. He arrived at the camp ⁸  as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting its battle cry.

1 Samuel 17:40

17:40 He took his staff in his hand, picked out five smooth stones from the stream, placed them in the pouch ⁹  of his shepherd’s bag, took his sling in hand, and approached the Philistine.

1 Samuel 19:17

19:17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped!” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away or else I will kill you!’” ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 19:20

19:20 So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw a company of prophets prophesying with Samuel standing there as their leader, the spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied.

1 Samuel 25:21

25:21 Now David had been thinking, ¹¹  “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

1 Samuel 27:11

27:11 Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, “This way they can’t tell on us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” Such was his practice the entire time ¹²  that he lived in the country of the Philistines.

1 Samuel 29:3

29:3 The leaders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the leaders of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me for quite some time? ¹³  I have found no fault with him from the day of his defection until the present time!” ¹⁴ 

[4:18]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:18]  ² tn Heb “the man.”

[15:22]  ³ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “look.”

[15:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22]  ⁶ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

[17:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “to a guard”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “with a keeper”; NIV “with a shepherd.” Since in contemporary English “guard” sounds like someone at a military installation or a prison, the present translation uses “to someone else who would watch over it.”

[17:20]  ⁸ tn Or “entrenchment.”

[17:40]  ⁹ tn This Hebrew word occurs only here and its exact meaning is not entirely clear. It refers to a receptacle of some sort and apparently was a common part of a shepherd’s equipment. Here it serves as a depository for the stones that David will use in his sling.

[19:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Send me away! Why should I kill you?” The question has the force of a threat in this context. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 325, 26.

[25:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “said.”

[27:11]  ¹² tn Heb “all the days.”

[29:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “these days or these years.”

[29:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the day of his falling [away] until this day.”