1 Samuel 1:21

Hannah Dedicates Samuel to the Lord

1:21 This man Elkanah went up with all his family to make the yearly sacrifice to the Lord and to keep his vow,

1 Samuel 2:21

2:21 So the Lord graciously attended to Hannah, and she was able to conceive and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel grew up at the Lord’s sanctuary. ¹ 

1 Samuel 3:1

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ²  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 3:13

3:13 You ³  should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of ⁴  the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God, ⁵  and he did not rebuke them.

1 Samuel 7:2

Further Conflict with the Philistines

7:2 It was quite a long time – some twenty years in all – that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people ⁶  of Israel longed for ⁷  the Lord.

1 Samuel 8:8

8:8 Just as they have done ⁸  from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you.

1 Samuel 9:1

Samuel Meets with Saul

9:1 There was a Benjaminite man named Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He was a prominent person.

1 Samuel 9:22

9:22 Then Samuel brought ⁹  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 11:2

11:2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “The only way I will make a treaty with you is if you let me gouge out the right eye of every one of you and in so doing humiliate all Israel!”

1 Samuel 12:23

12:23 As far as I am concerned, far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the way that is good and upright.

1 Samuel 14:3

14:3 Now Ahijah was carrying ¹⁰  an ephod. He was the son of Ahitub, who was the brother of Ichabod and a son of Phineas, son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh. The army was unaware that Jonathan had left.

1 Samuel 15:4

15:4 So Saul assembled ¹¹  the army ¹²  and mustered them at Telaim. There were 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ¹³  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

1 Samuel 22:2

22:2 All those who were in trouble or owed someone money or were discontented ¹⁴  gathered around ¹⁵  him, and he became their leader. He had about four hundred men with him.

1 Samuel 24:18

24:18 You have explained today how you have treated me well. The Lord delivered me into your hand, but you did not kill me.

1 Samuel 25:25

25:25 My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man Nabal. He simply lives up to his name! His name means ‘fool,’ and he is indeed foolish! ¹⁶  But I, your servant, did not see the servants my lord sent. ¹⁷ 

1 Samuel 26:23

26:23 The Lord rewards each man for his integrity and loyalty. ¹⁸  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 27:12

27:12 So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself, ¹⁹  “He is really hated ²⁰  among his own people in ²¹  Israel! From now on ²²  he will be my servant.”

1 Samuel 28:14

28:14 He said to her, “What about his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!”

Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down.

1 Samuel 30:9

30:9 So David went, accompanied by his six hundred men. When he came to the Wadi Besor, those who were in the rear stayed there. ²³ 

[2:21]  ¹ tn Heb “with the Lord.” Cf. NAB, TEV “in the service of the Lord”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “in the presence of the Lord”; CEV “at the Lord’s house in Shiloh.”

[3:1]  ² tn Heb “before Eli.”

[3:13]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[7:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “mourned after”; NIV “mourned and sought after”; KJV, NRSV “lamented after”; NAB “turned to”; NCV “began to follow…again.”

[8:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “according to all the deeds which they have done.”

[9:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “took and brought.”

[14:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “bearing.” Many English versions understand this verb to mean “wearing” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT).

[15:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “caused the people to hear.”

[15:4]  ¹² tn Heb “people.”

[16:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[22:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “bitter of soul.”

[22:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to.”

[25:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and foolishness is with him.”

[25:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my lord’s servants, whom you sent.”

[26:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the Lord returns to the man his righteousness and his faithfulness.”

[27:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “saying.”

[27:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he really stinks.” The expression is used figuratively here to describe the rejection and ostracism that David had experienced as a result of Saul’s hatred of him.

[27:12]  ²¹ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss lack the preposition “in.”

[27:12]  ²² tn Heb “permanently.”

[30:9]  ²³ tn Heb “stood.” So also in v. 10.