1 Samuel 3:13

3:13 You ¹  should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of ²  the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God, ³  and he did not rebuke them.

1 Samuel 3:18

3:18 So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli ⁴  said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” ⁵ 

1 Samuel 6:6

6:6 Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? ⁶  When God ⁷  treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way? ⁸ 

1 Samuel 7:8

7:8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep ⁹  crying out to the Lord our ¹⁰  God so that he may save us ¹¹  from the hand of the Philistines!”

1 Samuel 9:8

9:8 The servant went on to answer Saul, “Look, I happen to have in my hand a quarter shekel ¹²  of silver. I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us where we should go.” ¹³ 

1 Samuel 13:8

13:8 He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. ¹⁴  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ¹⁶  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

1 Samuel 19:8

19:8 Now once again there was war. So David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them thoroughly ¹⁷  and they ran away from him.

1 Samuel 27:2

27:2 So David left and crossed over to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath accompanied by his six hundred men.

1 Samuel 28:17

28:17 The Lord has done exactly as I prophesied! ¹⁸  The Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David!

[3:13]  ¹ tc The MT has וְהִגַּדְתִּי לוֹ (vÿhiggadti lo). The verb is Hiphil perfect 1st person common singular, and apparently the conjunction should be understood as vav consecutive (“I will say to him”). But the future reference makes more sense if Samuel is the subject. This would require dropping the final י (yod) and reading the 2nd person masculine singular וְהִגַּדְתָּ (vÿhiggadta). Although there is no external evidence to support it, this reading has been adopted in the present translation. The alternative is to understand the MT to mean “I said to him,” but for this we would expect the preterite with vav consecutive.

[3:13]  ² tn The translation understands the preposition to have a causal sense. However, the preposition could also be understood as the beth pretii, indicating in a broad sense the price attached to this action. So GKC 380 §119.p.

[3:13]  ³ tc The translation follows the LXX θεόν (qeon, “God”) rather than the MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”). The MT seems to mean “they were bringing a curse on themselves” (cf. ASV, NASB). But this meaning is problematic in part because the verb qll means “to curse,” not “to bring a curse on,” and in part because it takes an accusative object rather than the equivalent of a dative. This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” Why would the ancient copyists alter the original statement about Eli’s sons cursing God to the less objectionable statement that they brought a curse on themselves? Some argue that the scribes were concerned that such a direct and blasphemous affront against God could occur without an immediate response of judgment from God. Therefore they changed the text by deleting two letters א and י (alef and yod) from the word for “God,” with the result that the text then read “to them.” If this ancient scribal claim is accepted as accurate, it implies that the MT here is secondary. The present translation follows the LXX (κακολογοῦντες θεόν, kakologounte" qeon) and a few mss of the Old Latin in reading “God” rather than the MT “to them.” Cf. also NAB, NRSV, NLT.

[3:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

[6:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “like Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their heart.”

[6:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they sent them away and they went.”

[7:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “don’t stop.”

[7:8]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX reads “your God” rather than the MT’s “our God.”

[7:8]  ¹¹ tn After the negated jussive, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[9:8]  ¹² sn A quarter shekel of silver would weigh about a tenth of an ounce (about 3 grams).

[9:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “our way.”

[13:8]  ¹⁴ tn This apparently refers to the instructions given by Samuel in 1 Sam 10:8. If so, several years had passed. On the relationship between chs. 10 and 13, see V. P. Long, The Art of Biblical History (FCI), 201-23.

[13:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”

[16:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[19:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he struck them down with a great blow.”

[28:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “just as he said by my hand.”