1 Samuel 1:24

1:24 Once she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, an ephah ¹  of flour, and a container ²  of wine. She brought him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh, even though he was young. ³ 

1 Samuel 6:4

6:4 They inquired, “What is the guilt offering that we should send to him?”

They replied, “The Philistine leaders number five. So send five gold sores and five gold mice, for it is the same plague that has afflicted both you and your leaders.

1 Samuel 11:7

11:7 He took a pair ⁴  of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, “Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out as one army. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 12:5

12:5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king ⁶  is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.” ⁷  They said, “He is witness!”

1 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Taking an oath, David again ⁸  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ⁹  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ¹⁰  ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!”

1 Samuel 21:9

David Goes to Gath

21:9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod. If you wish, take it for yourself. Other than that, there’s nothing here.” David said, “There’s nothing like it! Give it to me!”

1 Samuel 25:7

25:7 Now I hear that they are shearing sheep for you. When your shepherds were with us, we neither insulted them nor harmed them the whole time they were in Carmel.

1 Samuel 25:21

25:21 Now David had been thinking, ¹¹  “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

[1:24]  ¹ sn The ephah was a standard dry measure in OT times; it was the equivalent of one-tenth of the OT measure known as a homer. The ephah was equal to approximately one-half to two-thirds of a bushel.

[1:24]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “container” may denote either a clay storage jar (cf. CEV “a clay jar full of wine”) or a leather container (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “a skin of wine”; NCV “a leather bag filled with (full of TEV) wine.”

[1:24]  ³ tc Heb “and the boy was a boy.” If the MT is correct the meaning apparently is that the boy was quite young at the time of these events. On the other hand, some scholars have suspected a textual problem, emending the text to read either “and the boy was with them” (so LXX) or “and the boy was with her” (a conjectural emendation). In spite of the difficulty it seems best to stay with the MT here.

[11:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “yoke.”

[11:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “like one man.”

[12:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

[12:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.”

[20:3]  ⁸ tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”

[20:3]  ⁹ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.

[25:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “said.”