1 Samuel 16:1

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ¹  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ²  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ³ 

1 Samuel 17:12-13

17:12 ⁴ Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem ⁵  in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. ⁶  17:13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the ⁷  three sons who went to war were Eliab, his firstborn, Abinadab, the second oldest, and Shammah, the third oldest.

1 Samuel 17:20

17:20 So David got up early in the morning and entrusted the flock to someone else who would watch over it. ⁸  After loading up, he went just as Jesse had instructed him. He arrived at the camp ⁹  as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting its battle cry.

1 Samuel 20:27

20:27 But the next morning, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has Jesse’s son not come to the meal yesterday or today?”

1 Samuel 20:30-31

20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan ¹⁰  and said to him, “You stupid traitor! ¹¹  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? 20:31 For as long as ¹²  this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men ¹³  and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 22:7-9

22:7 Saul said to his servants who were stationed around him, “Listen up, you Benjaminites! Is Jesse’s son giving fields and vineyards to all of you? Or is he making all of you ¹⁵  commanders and officers? ¹⁶  22:8 For all of you have conspired against me! No one informs me ¹⁷  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!”

22:9 But Doeg the Edomite, who had stationed himself with the servants of Saul, replied, “I saw this son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.

1 Samuel 22:13

22:13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and this son of Jesse? You gave ¹⁸  him bread and a sword and inquired of God on his behalf, so that he opposes ¹⁹  me and waits in ambush, as is the case today!”

[16:1]  ¹ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ³ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

[17:12]  ⁴ tc Some mss of the LXX lack vv. 12-31.

[17:12]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[17:12]  ⁶ tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”

[17:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “his.”

[17:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “to a guard”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “with a keeper”; NIV “with a shepherd.” Since in contemporary English “guard” sounds like someone at a military installation or a prison, the present translation uses “to someone else who would watch over it.”

[17:20]  ⁹ tn Or “entrenchment.”

[20:30]  ¹⁰ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss include the words “his son” here.

[20:30]  ¹¹ 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.

[20:31]  ¹² tn Heb “all the days that.”

[20:31]  ¹³ tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a son of death.”

[22:7]  ¹⁵ tc The MT has “to all of you.” If this reading is correct, we have here an example of a prepositional phrase functioning as the equivalent of a dative of advantage, which is not impossible from a grammatical point of view. However, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate all have “and.” A conjunction rather than a preposition should probably be read on the front of this phrase.

[22:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”

[22:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “uncovers my ear.”

[22:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “by giving.”

[22:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “rises up against.”