1 Samuel 5:9

5:9 But after it had been moved the Lord attacked ¹  that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city ²  with sores. ³ 

1 Samuel 9:17

9:17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, ⁴  “Here is the man that I told you about! He will rule over my people.”

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 12:12

12:12 “When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’ – even though the Lord your God is your king!

1 Samuel 12:15

12:15 But if you don’t obey ⁶  the Lord and rebel against what the Lord says, the hand of the Lord will be against both you and your king. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 13:18

13:18 another band turned toward the road leading to Beth Horon; and yet another band turned toward the road leading to the border that overlooks the valley of Zeboim in the direction of the desert.

1 Samuel 14:28

14:28 Then someone from the army informed him, “Your father put the army under a strict oath ⁸  saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today!’ That is why the army is tired.”

1 Samuel 14:30

14:30 Certainly if the army had eaten some of the enemies’ provisions that they came across today, would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”

1 Samuel 14:32

14:32 So the army rushed greedily on ⁹  the ¹⁰  plunder, confiscating sheep, cattle, and calves. They slaughtered them right on the ground, and the army ate them blood and all.

1 Samuel 16:23--17:1

16:23 So whenever the spirit from God would come upon Saul, David would take his lyre and play it. This would bring relief to Saul and make him feel better. Then the evil spirit would leave him alone. ¹¹ 

David Kills Goliath

17:1 ¹² The Philistines gathered their troops ¹³  for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

1 Samuel 17:18

17:18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to their commanding officer. ¹⁴  Find out how your brothers are doing ¹⁵  and bring back their pledge that they received the goods. ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 17:43

17:43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you are coming after me with sticks?” ¹⁷  Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

1 Samuel 19:13

19:13 Then Michal took a household idol ¹⁸  and put it on the bed. She put a quilt ¹⁹  made of goat’s hair over its head ²⁰  and then covered the idol with a garment.

1 Samuel 19:21

19:21 When it was reported to Saul, he sent more messengers, but they prophesied too. So Saul sent messengers a third time, but they also prophesied.

1 Samuel 20:26

20:26 However, Saul said nothing about it ²¹  that day, for he thought, ²²  “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.”

1 Samuel 21:7

21:7 (One of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite, who was in charge of Saul’s shepherds.)

1 Samuel 22:3

22:3 Then David went from there to Mizpah in Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay ²³  with you until I know what God is going to do for me.”

1 Samuel 24:2

24:2 So Saul took three thousand select men from all Israel and went to find ²⁴  David and his men in the region of ²⁵  the rocks of the mountain goats. ²⁶ 

1 Samuel 24:12

24:12 May the Lord judge between the two of us, and may the Lord vindicate me over you, but my hand will not be against you.

1 Samuel 25:20

25:20 Riding on her donkey, she went down under cover of the mountain. David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she encountered them.

1 Samuel 25:28

25:28 Please forgive the sin of your servant, for the Lord will certainly establish the house of my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord. May no evil be found in you all your days!

1 Samuel 25:33

25:33 Praised be your good judgment! May you yourself be rewarded ²⁷  for having prevented me this day from shedding blood and taking matters into my own hands!

1 Samuel 26:9

26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill him! Who can extend his hand against the Lord’s chosen one ²⁸  and remain guiltless?”

1 Samuel 26:11

26:11 But may the Lord prevent me from extending my hand against the Lord’s chosen one! Now take the spear by Saul’s head and the jug of water, and let’s get out of here!”

1 Samuel 26:23

26:23 The Lord rewards each man for his integrity and loyalty. ²⁹  Even though today the Lord delivered you into my hand, I was not willing to extend my hand against the Lord’s chosen one.

1 Samuel 26:25

26:25 Saul replied to David, “May you be rewarded, ³⁰  my son David! You will without question be successful!” ³¹  So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

1 Samuel 28:2

28:2 David replied to Achish, “That being the case, you will come to know what your servant can do!” Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard ³²  from now on.” ³³ 

1 Samuel 30:23

30:23 But David said, “No! You shouldn’t do this, my brothers. Look at what the Lord has given us! ³⁴  He has protected us and has delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.

1 Samuel 31:1

The Death of Saul

31:1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa.

1 Samuel 31:8

31:8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip loot from the corpses, they discovered Saul and his three sons lying dead ³⁵  on Mount Gilboa.

[5:9]  ¹ tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was against the city.”

[5:9]  ² tn Heb “and he struck the men of the city from small and to great.”

[5:9]  ³ tn See the note on this term in v. 6. Cf. KJV “and they had emerods in their secret parts.”

[9:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “responded.”

[9:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “took and brought.”

[12:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”

[12:15]  ⁷ tc The LXX reads “your king” rather than the MT’s “your fathers.” The latter makes little sense here. Some follow MT, but translate “as it was against your fathers.” See P. K. McCarter, 1 Samuel (AB), 212.

[14:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “your father surely put the army under an oath.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize the solemn nature of the oath.

[14:32]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading “and they rushed greedily upon,” rather than the Kethib, “and they did.”

[14:32]  ¹⁰ tc The translation reads with the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss הַשָּׁלָל (hashalal, “the spoil”) rather than following the Kethib reading, שָׁלָל (shalal, “spoil”).

[16:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “would turn aside from upon him.”

[17:1]  ¹² tc The content of 1 Sam 17–18, which includes the David and Goliath story, differs considerably in the LXX as compared to the MT, suggesting that this story circulated in ancient times in more than one form. The LXX for chs. 17–18 is much shorter than the MT, lacking almost half of the material (39 of a total of 88 verses). Many scholars (e.g., McCarter, Klein) think that the shorter text of the LXX is preferable to the MT, which in their view has been expanded by incorporation of later material. Other scholars (e.g., Wellhausen, Driver) conclude that the shorter Greek text (or the Hebrew text that underlies it) reflects an attempt to harmonize certain alleged inconsistencies that appear in the longer version of the story. Given the translation characteristics of the LXX elsewhere in this section, it does not seem likely that these differences are due to deliberate omission of these verses on the part of the translator. It seems more likely that the Greek translator has faithfully rendered here a Hebrew text that itself was much shorter than the MT in these chapters. Whether or not the shorter text represented by the LXX is to be preferred over the MT in 1 Sam 17–18 is a matter over which textual scholars are divided. For a helpful discussion of the major textual issues in this unit see D. Barthélemy, D. W. Gooding, J. Lust, and E. Tov, The Story of David and Goliath (OBO). Overall it seems preferable to stay with the MT, at least for the most part. However, the major textual differences between the LXX and the MT will be mentioned in the notes that accompany the translation so that the reader may be alert to the major problem passages.

[17:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “camps.”

[17:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “officer of the thousand.”

[17:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and your brothers, observe with respect to welfare.”

[17:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and their pledge take.” This probably refers to some type of confirmation that the goods arrived safely. See R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 177. Cf. NIV “bring back some assurance”; NCV “some proof to show me they are all right”; NLT “bring me back a letter from them.”

[17:43]  ¹⁷ sn Sticks is a pejorative reference to David’s staff (v. 40); the same Hebrew word (מַקֵּל, maqqel) is used for both.

[19:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “teraphim” (also a second time in this verse and once in v. 16). These were statues that represented various deities. According to 2 Kgs 23:24 they were prohibited during the time of Josiah’s reform movement in the seventh century. The idol Michal placed under the covers was of sufficient size to give the mistaken impression that David lay in the bed, thus facilitating his escape.

[19:13]  ¹⁹ tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew word כָּבִיר (kavir) is uncertain; it is found in the Hebrew Bible only here and in v. 16. It probably refers to a quilt made of goat’s hair, perhaps used as a fly net while one slept. See HALOT 458 s.v. *כָּבִיר. Cf. KJV, TEV “pillow”; NLT “cushion”; NAB, NRSV “net.”

[19:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “at the place of its head.”

[20:26]  ²¹ tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.

[20:26]  ²² tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.

[22:3]  ²³ tn Heb “go forth.”

[24:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to search [for].”

[24:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “upon the face of.”

[24:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “the region of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats,” if this expression is understood as a place name (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV).

[25:33]  ²⁷ tn Heb “blessed.”

[26:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “anointed” (also in vv. 11, 16, 23).

[26:23]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and the Lord returns to the man his righteousness and his faithfulness.”

[26:25]  ³⁰ tn Heb “blessed.”

[26:25]  ³¹ tn Heb “you will certainly do and also you will certainly be able.” The infinitive absolutes placed before the finite verbal forms lend emphasis to the statement.

[28:2]  ³² tn Heb “the guardian for my head.”

[28:2]  ³³ tn Heb “all the days.”

[30:23]  ³⁴ tc This clause is difficult in the MT. The present translation accepts the text as found in the MT and understands this clause to be elliptical, with an understood verb such as “look” or “consider.” On the other hand, the LXX seems to reflect a slightly different Hebrew text, reading “after” where the MT has “my brothers.” The Greek translation yields the following translation: “You should not do this after the Lord has delivered us.” Although the Greek reading should be taken seriously, it seems better to follow the MT here.

[31:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “fallen.”