1 Samuel 1:20

1:20 After some time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, thinking, “I asked the Lord for him. ¹ 

Mazmur 99:6

99:6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests;

Samuel was one of those who prayed to him. ² 

They ³  prayed to the Lord and he answered them.

Yeremia 15:1

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ⁴  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ⁵  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ⁶ 

[1:20]  ¹ tn Heb “because from the Lord I asked him.” The name “Samuel” sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “asked.” The explanation of the meaning of the name “Samuel” that is provided in v. 20 is not a strict etymology. It seems to suggest that the first part of the name is derived from the Hebrew root שׁאל (sh’l, “to ask”), but the consonants do not support this. Nor is it likely that the name comes from the root שׁמא (shm’, “to hear”), for the same reason. It more probably derives from שֶׁם (shem, “name”), so that “Samuel” means “name of God.” Verse 20 therefore does not set forth a linguistic explanation of the meaning of the name, but rather draws a parallel between similar sounds. This figure of speech is known as paronomasia.

[99:6]  ² tn Heb “among those who called on his name.”

[99:6]  ³ tn Heb “those who.” The participle is in apposition to the phrase “those who called on his name” in the preceding line.

[15:1]  ⁴ tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  sn Moses and Samuel were well-known for their successful intercession on behalf of Israel. See Ps 99:6-8 and see, e.g., Exod 32:11-14, 30-34; 1 Sam 7:5-9. The Lord is here rejecting Jeremiah’s intercession on behalf of the people (14:19-22).

[15:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”