1 Samuel 4:2

4:2 The Philistines arranged their forces to fight ¹  Israel. As the battle spread out, ²  Israel was defeated by ³  the Philistines, who ⁴  killed about four thousand men in the battle line in the field.

1 Samuel 9:22

9:22 Then Samuel brought ⁵  Saul and his servant into the room and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited. There were about thirty people present.

1 Samuel 13:15

13:15 Then Samuel set out and went up from Gilgal ⁶  to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. ⁷  Saul mustered the army that remained with him; there were about six hundred men.

1 Samuel 14:2

14:2 Now Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree in Migron, on the outskirts of Gibeah. The army that was with him numbered about six hundred men.

1 Samuel 18:8

18:8 This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, ⁸  “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?”

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “to meet.”

[4:2]  ² tn The MT has וַתִּטֹּשׁ (vattittosh), from the root נטשׁ (ntsh). This verb normally means “to leave,” “to forsake,” or “to permit,” but such an idea does not fit this context very well. Many scholars have suspected that the text originally read either וַתֵּט (vattet, “and it spread out”), from the root נטה (nth), or וַתִּקֶשׁ (vattiqesh, “and it grew fierce”), from the root קשׂה (qsh). The former suggestion is apparently supported by the LXX ἔκλινεν (eklinen, “it inclined”) and is adopted in the translation.

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “before.”

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Philistines, and they killed.” The pronoun “they” has been translated as a relative pronoun (“who”) to make it clear to the English reader that the Philistines were the ones who did the killing.

[9:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “took and brought.”

[13:15]  ⁶ tc The LXX and two Old Latin mss include the following words here: “on his way. And the rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the warring army. When they arrived from Gilgal….”

[13:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “at Gibeah of Benjamin.” The words “in the territory” are supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).

[18:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “said.” So also in vv. 11, 17.