1 Samuel 2:6-7

2:6 The Lord both kills and gives life;

he brings down to the grave ¹  and raises up.

2:7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;

he humbles and he exalts.

1 Samuel 14:44

14:44 Saul said, “God will punish me severely if Jonathan doesn’t die!” ² 

1 Samuel 15:29

15:29 The Preeminent One ³  of Israel does not go back on his word ⁴  or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.” ⁵ 

1 Samuel 17:30

17:30 Then he turned from those who were nearby to someone else and asked the same question, ⁶  but they ⁷  gave him the same answer as before.

1 Samuel 20:15

20:15 Don’t ever cut off your loyalty to my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth

1 Samuel 20:17

20:17 Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 20:38

20:38 Jonathan called out to the servant, “Hurry! Go faster! Don’t delay!” Jonathan’s servant retrieved the arrow and came back to his master.

1 Samuel 25:22

25:22 God will severely punish David, ⁹  if I leave alive until morning even one male ¹⁰  from all those who belong to him!”

1 Samuel 26:1

David Spares Saul’s Life Again

26:1 The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Isn’t David hiding on the hill of Hakilah near ¹¹  Jeshimon?”

[2:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Sheol”; NAB “the nether world”; CEV “the world of the dead.”

[14:44]  ² tn Heb “So God will do and so he will add, surely you will certainly die, Jonathan.”

[15:29]  ³ tn Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord.

[15:29]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “does not lie.”

[15:29]  ⁵ sn This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Change His Mind?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

[17:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “and spoke according to this word.”

[17:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “the people.”

[20:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”

[25:22]  ⁹ tc Heb “Thus God will do to the enemies of David and thus he will add.” Most of the Old Greek ms tradition has simply “David,” with no reference to his enemies. In OT imprecations such as the one found in v. 22 it is common for the speaker to direct malediction toward himself as an indication of the seriousness with which he regards the matter at hand. In other words, the speaker invites on himself dire consequences if he fails to fulfill the matter expressed in the oath. However, in the situation alluded to in v. 22 the threat actually does not come to fruition due to the effectiveness of Abigail’s appeal to David in behalf of her husband Nabal. Instead, David is placated through Abigail’s intervention. It therefore seems likely that the reference to “the enemies of David” in the MT of v. 22 is the result of a scribal attempt to deliver David from the implied consequences of this oath. The present translation follows the LXX rather than the MT here.

[25:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “one who urinates against a wall” (also in v. 34); KJV “any that pisseth against the wall.”

[26:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “upon the face of.”