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 4:7

4:7 The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. ⁴  They said, “Too bad for ⁵  us! We’ve never seen anything like this!

1 Samuel 9:3

9:3 The donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off, ⁶  so Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go ⁷  look for the donkeys.” ⁸ 

1 Samuel 10:12

10:12 A man who was from there replied, “And who is their father?” Therefore this became a proverb: “Is even Saul among the prophets?”

1 Samuel 13:12

13:12 I thought, ⁹  ‘Now the Philistines will come down on me at Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt obligated ¹⁰  to offer the burnt offering.”

1 Samuel 14:28

14:28 Then someone from the army informed him, “Your father put the army under a strict oath ¹¹  saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today!’ That is why the army is tired.”

1 Samuel 15:35

15:35 Until the day he ¹²  died Samuel did not see Saul again. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Samuel 19:24

19:24 He even stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay there ¹³  naked all that day and night. (For that reason it is asked, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”)

1 Samuel 21:13

21:13 He altered his behavior in their presence. ¹⁴  Since he was in their power, ¹⁵  he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard.

[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.

[4:7]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has a direct quote, “because they said, ‘Gods have come to the camp.’” Even though the verb translated “have come” is singular, the following subject should be taken as plural (“gods”), as v. 8 indicates. Some emend the verb to a plural form.

[4:7]  ⁵ tn Traditionally “woe to.” They thought disaster was imminent.

[9:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “became lost.”

[9:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and arise, go.”

[9:3]  ⁸ tc The Syriac Peshitta includes the following words: “So Saul arose and went out. He took with him one of the boys and went out to look for his father’s donkeys.”

[13:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “said.”

[13:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “I forced myself” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, CEV); NAB “So in my anxiety I offered”; NIV “I felt compelled.”

[14:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your father surely put the army under an oath.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize the solemn nature of the oath.

[15:35]  ¹² tn That is, Samuel.

[19:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he fell down.”

[21:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in their eyes.”

[21:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in their hand.”