1 Samuel 8:9

8:9 So now do as they say. ¹  But seriously warn ²  them and make them aware of the policies of the king who will rule over them.” ³ 

1 Samuel 1:19

1:19 They got up early the next morning and after worshiping the Lord, they returned to their home at Ramah. Elkanah had marital relations with ⁴  his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered ⁵  her.

1 Samuel 25:31

25:31 Your conscience will not be overwhelmed with guilt ⁶  for having poured out innocent blood and for having taken matters into your own hands. When the Lord has granted my lord success, ⁷  please remember your servant.”

1 Samuel 1:11

1:11 She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion ⁸  on the suffering of your female servant, ⁹  remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child ¹⁰  to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 19:11

19:11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself ¹²  tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”

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! ¹³  He has protected us and has delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.

1 Samuel 1:26

1:26 She said, “Just as surely as you are alive, my lord, I am the woman who previously stood here with you in order to pray to the Lord.

1 Samuel 12:7

12:7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you ¹⁴  before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 12:24

12:24 However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you!

1 Samuel 15:12

15:12 Then Samuel got up early to meet Saul the next morning. But Samuel was informed, “Saul has gone to Carmel where ¹⁶  he is setting up a monument for himself. Then Samuel left ¹⁷  and went down to Gilgal.” ¹⁸ 

1 Samuel 8:19

8:19 But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. ¹⁹  Instead they said, “No! There will be a king over us!

1 Samuel 20:14

20:14 While I am still alive, extend to me the loyalty of the Lord, or else I will die!

1 Samuel 2:31

2:31 In fact, days are coming when I will remove your strength ²⁰  and the strength ²¹  of your father’s house. There will not be an old man in your house!

1 Samuel 3:13

3:13 You ²²  should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of ²³  the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God, ²⁴  and he did not rebuke them.

1 Samuel 19:2

19:2 So Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is trying ²⁵  to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning. Find ²⁶  a hiding place and stay in seclusion. ²⁷ 

1 Samuel 21:13

21:13 He altered his behavior in their presence. ²⁸  Since he was in their power, ²⁹  he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard.

1 Samuel 23:3

23:3 But David’s men said to him, “We are afraid while we are still here in Judah! What will it be like if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

1 Samuel 25:30

25:30 The Lord will do for my lord everything that he promised you, ³⁰  and he will make ³¹  you a leader over Israel.

1 Samuel 2:35

2:35 Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a secure dynasty ³²  and he will serve my chosen one for all time. ³³ 

1 Samuel 9:6

9:6 But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. ³⁴  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ³⁵ 

1 Samuel 15:6

15:6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away ³⁶  with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.

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? ³⁷ 

Certainly, ³⁸  obedience ³⁹  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ⁴⁰  the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 20:2

20:2 Jonathan ⁴¹  said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing ⁴²  large or small without making me aware of it. ⁴³  Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

1 Samuel 22:8

22:8 For all of you have conspired against me! No one informs me ⁴⁴  when my own son makes an agreement with this son of Jesse! Not one of you feels sorry for me or informs me that my own son has commissioned my own servant to hide in ambush against me, as is the case today!”

[8:9]  ¹ tn Heb “and now, listen to their voice.”

[8:9]  ² tn The infinitive absolute appears before the imperative for emphasis.

[8:9]  ³ tn Heb “and tell them the manner of the king who will rule over them.”

[1:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “Elkanah knew his wife.” The Hebrew expression is a euphemism for sexual relations.

[1:19]  ⁵ sn The Lord “remembered” her in the sense of granting her earlier request for a child. The Hebrew verb is often used in the OT for considering the needs or desires of people with favor and kindness.

[25:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “and this will not be for you for staggering and for stumbling of the heart of my lord.”

[25:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the Lord will do well for my lord.”

[1:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “if looking you look.” The expression can refer, as here, to looking favorably upon another, in this case with compassion.

[1:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “handmaid.” The use of this term (translated two more times in this verse and once each in vv. 16, 17 simply as “servant” for stylistic reasons) is an expression of humility.

[1:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “seed of men.”

[1:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a razor will not go up upon his head.”

[19:11]  ¹² tn Heb “your life.”

[30:23]  ¹³ 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.

[12:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.”

[12:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”

[15:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and look.”

[15:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he turned and crossed over.”

[15:12]  ¹⁸ tc At the end of v. 12 the LXX and one Old Latin ms include the following words not found in the MT: “to Saul. And behold, he was offering as a burnt offering to the Lord the best of the spoils that he had brought from the Amalekites.”

[8:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel.”

[2:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “chop off your arm.” The arm here symbolizes strength and activity.

[2:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “arm.”

[3:13]  ²² tc The MT has וְהִגַּדְתִּי לוֹ (vÿhiggadti lo). The verb is Hiphil perfect 1st person common singular, and apparently the conjunction should be understood as vav consecutive (“I will say to him”). But the future reference makes more sense if Samuel is the subject. This would require dropping the final י (yod) and reading the 2nd person masculine singular וְהִגַּדְתָּ (vÿhiggadta). Although there is no external evidence to support it, this reading has been adopted in the present translation. The alternative is to understand the MT to mean “I said to him,” but for this we would expect the preterite with vav consecutive.

[3:13]  ²³ tn The translation understands the preposition to have a causal sense. However, the preposition could also be understood as the beth pretii, indicating in a broad sense the price attached to this action. So GKC 380 §119.p.

[3:13]  ²⁴ tc The translation follows the LXX θεόν (qeon, “God”) rather than the MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”). The MT seems to mean “they were bringing a curse on themselves” (cf. ASV, NASB). But this meaning is problematic in part because the verb qll means “to curse,” not “to bring a curse on,” and in part because it takes an accusative object rather than the equivalent of a dative. This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” Why would the ancient copyists alter the original statement about Eli’s sons cursing God to the less objectionable statement that they brought a curse on themselves? Some argue that the scribes were concerned that such a direct and blasphemous affront against God could occur without an immediate response of judgment from God. Therefore they changed the text by deleting two letters א and י (alef and yod) from the word for “God,” with the result that the text then read “to them.” If this ancient scribal claim is accepted as accurate, it implies that the MT here is secondary. The present translation follows the LXX (κακολογοῦντες θεόν, kakologounte" qeon) and a few mss of the Old Latin in reading “God” rather than the MT “to them.” Cf. also NAB, NRSV, NLT.

[19:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “seeking.”

[19:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “stay in.”

[19:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and hide yourself.”

[21:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in their eyes.”

[21:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in their hand.”

[25:30]  ³⁰ tn Heb “according to all which he spoke, the good concerning you.”

[25:30]  ³¹ tn Heb “appoint.”

[2:35]  ³² tn Heb “house.”

[2:35]  ³³ tn Heb “and he will walk about before my anointed one all the days.”

[9:6]  ³⁴ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[15:6]  ³⁶ tc The translation follows the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate which assume a reading אֶסִפְךָ (’esfÿka, “I sweep you away,” from the root ספה [sfh]) rather than the MT אֹסִפְךָ (’osifÿka, “I am gathering you,” from the root אסף[’sf]).

[15:22]  ³⁷ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22]  ³⁸ tn Heb “look.”

[15:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22]  ⁴⁰ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

[20:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ⁴² tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).

[20:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”

[22:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “uncovers my ear.”