1 Samuel 2:5

2:5 Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food,

but the hungry no longer lack.

Even ¹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ² 

but the one with many children withers away. ³ 

1 Samuel 2:34

2:34 This will be a confirming sign for you that will be fulfilled through your two sons, ⁴  Hophni and Phinehas: in a single day they both will die!

1 Samuel 12:22

12:22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. ⁵  The Lord was pleased to make you his own people.

[2:5]  ¹ tc Against BHS but with the MT, the preposition (עַד, ’ad) should be taken with what follows rather than with what precedes. For this sense of the preposition see Job 25:5.

[2:5]  ² sn The number seven is used here in an ideal sense. Elsewhere in the OT having seven children is evidence of fertility as a result of God’s blessing on the family. See, for example, Jer 15:9, Ruth 4:15.

[2:5]  ³ tn Or “languishes.”

[2:34]  ⁴ tn Heb “and this to you [is] the sign which will come to both of your sons.”

[12:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “on account of his great name.”