1 Samuel 23:8

23:8 So Saul mustered all his army to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men. ¹ 

1 Samuel 15:4

15:4 So Saul assembled ²  the army ³  and mustered them at Telaim. There were 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.

1 Samuel 13:4

13:4 All Israel heard this message, ⁴  “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel is repulsive ⁵  to the Philistines!” So the people were summoned to join ⁶  Saul at Gilgal.

1 Samuel 10:17

10:17 Then Samuel called the people together before the Lord at Mizpah.

1 Samuel 17:1

David Kills Goliath

17:1 ⁷ The Philistines gathered their troops ⁸  for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

1 Samuel 28:1

The Witch of Endor

28:1 In those days the Philistines gathered their troops ⁹  for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, “You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.” ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 28:4

28:4 The Philistines assembled; they came and camped at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and camped at Gilboa.

1 Samuel 4:1

4:1 Samuel revealed the word of the Lord ¹¹  to all Israel.

The Ark of the Covenant is Lost to the Philistines

Then the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines. ¹²  They camped at Ebenezer, ¹³  and the Philistines camped at Aphek.

1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ¹⁴ Nahash ¹⁵  the Ammonite marched ¹⁶  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

1 Samuel 7:7

7:7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the leaders of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the Israelites heard about this, they were afraid of the Philistines.

1 Samuel 13:3

13:3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost ¹⁷  that was at Geba and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul alerted ¹⁸  all the land saying, “Let the Hebrews pay attention!”

1 Samuel 14:47

14:47 After Saul had secured his royal position over Israel, he fought against all their ¹⁹  enemies on all sides – the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. In every direction that he turned he was victorious. ²⁰ 

[23:8]  ¹ tn Heb “So Saul mustered all his army for battle to go down to Keilah to besiege against David and his men.”

[15:4]  ² tn Heb “caused the people to hear.”

[15:4]  ³ tn Heb “people.”

[13:4]  ⁴ tn The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “stinks.” The figurative language indicates that Israel had become repulsive to the Philistines.

[13:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “were summoned after.”

[17:1]  ⁷ tc The content of 1 Sam 17–18, which includes the David and Goliath story, differs considerably in the LXX as compared to the MT, suggesting that this story circulated in ancient times in more than one form. The LXX for chs. 17–18 is much shorter than the MT, lacking almost half of the material (39 of a total of 88 verses). Many scholars (e.g., McCarter, Klein) think that the shorter text of the LXX is preferable to the MT, which in their view has been expanded by incorporation of later material. Other scholars (e.g., Wellhausen, Driver) conclude that the shorter Greek text (or the Hebrew text that underlies it) reflects an attempt to harmonize certain alleged inconsistencies that appear in the longer version of the story. Given the translation characteristics of the LXX elsewhere in this section, it does not seem likely that these differences are due to deliberate omission of these verses on the part of the translator. It seems more likely that the Greek translator has faithfully rendered here a Hebrew text that itself was much shorter than the MT in these chapters. Whether or not the shorter text represented by the LXX is to be preferred over the MT in 1 Sam 17–18 is a matter over which textual scholars are divided. For a helpful discussion of the major textual issues in this unit see D. Barthélemy, D. W. Gooding, J. Lust, and E. Tov, The Story of David and Goliath (OBO). Overall it seems preferable to stay with the MT, at least for the most part. However, the major textual differences between the LXX and the MT will be mentioned in the notes that accompany the translation so that the reader may be alert to the major problem passages.

[17:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “camps.”

[28:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “their camps.”

[28:1]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the LXX (εἰς πόλεμον, eis polemon) and a Qumran ms מלחמה במלחמה ([m]lkhmh) bammilkhamah (“in the battle”) rather than the MT’s בַמַּחֲנֶה (bammakhaneh, “in the camp”; cf. NASB). While the MT reading is not impossible here, and although admittedly it is the harder reading, the variant fits the context better. The MT can be explained as a scribal error caused in part by the earlier occurrence of “camp” in this verse.

[4:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the word of Samuel was.” The present translation understands Samuel to be the speaker of the divine word (“Samuel” is a subjective genitive in this case), although the statement could mean that he was the recipient of the divine word (“Samuel” is an objective genitive in this case) who in turn reported it to Israel.

[4:1]  ¹² tn Heb “and Israel went out to meet the Philistines for battle.”

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “the stone, the help.” The second noun is in apposition to the first one and apparently is the name by which the stone was known. Contrast the expression used in 5:1 and 7:12, where the first word lacks the definite article, unlike 4:1.

[11:1]  ¹⁴ tc 4QSam^a and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.

[11:1]  ¹⁵ sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

[11:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”

[13:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or perhaps “struck down the Philistine official.” See the note at 1 Sam 10:5. Cf. TEV “killed the Philistine commander.”

[13:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “blew the ram’s horn in.”

[14:47]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his,” which could refer to Israel or to Saul.

[14:47]  ²⁰ tc The translation follows the LXX (“he was delivered”), rather than the MT, which reads, “he acted wickedly.”