1 Samuel 1:3

1:3 Year after year ¹  this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord’s priests.

1 Samuel 2:27

The Lord Judges the House of Eli

2:27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not plainly ²  reveal myself to your ancestor’s ³  house when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh?

1 Samuel 7:6

7:6 After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed ⁴  there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel led ⁵  the people of Israel at Mizpah.

1 Samuel 17:28

17:28 When David’s ⁶  oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry ⁷  with David and said, “Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! ⁸  You have come down here to watch the battle!”

1 Samuel 20:30

20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan ⁹  and said to him, “You stupid traitor! ¹⁰  Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse?

1 Samuel 22:13

22:13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and this son of Jesse? You gave ¹¹  him bread and a sword and inquired of God on his behalf, so that he opposes ¹²  me and waits in ambush, as is the case today!”

[1:3]  ¹ tn Heb “from days to days.”

[2:27]  ² tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[2:27]  ³ tn Heb “to your father’s” (also in vv. 28, 30).

[7:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “said.”

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “judged”; NAB “began to judge”; TEV “settled disputes among.”

[17:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “the anger of Eliab became hot.”

[17:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “the wickedness of your heart.”

[20:30]  ⁹ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss include the words “his son” here.

[20:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.

[22:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “by giving.”

[22:13]  ¹² tn Heb “rises up against.”