1 Samuel 3:6

3:6 The Lord again called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli ¹  said, “I didn’t call you, my son. Go back and lie down.”

1 Samuel 6:3

6:3 They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of ²  the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.”

1 Samuel 6:9

6:9 But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”

1 Samuel 6:12

6:12 Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

1 Samuel 9:6

9:6 But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. ³  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ⁴ 

1 Samuel 9:20

9:20 Don’t be concerned ⁵  about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found. Whom does all Israel desire? Is it not you, and all your father’s family?” ⁶ 

1 Samuel 11:7

11:7 He took a pair ⁷  of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, “Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out as one army. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 13:11

13:11 But Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the army had started to abandon me ⁹  and that you didn’t come at the appointed time and that the Philistines had assembled at Micmash,

1 Samuel 14:41

14:41 Then Saul said, “O Lord God of Israel! If this sin has been committed by me or by my son Jonathan, then, O Lord God of Israel, respond with Urim. But if this sin has been committed by your people Israel, respond with Thummim.” ¹⁰  Then Jonathan and Saul were indicated by lot, while the army was exonerated. ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 16:7

16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by ¹²  his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. ¹³  People look on the outward appearance, ¹⁴  but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 19:4

19:4 So Jonathan spoke on David’s behalf ¹⁵  to his father Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, his actions have been very beneficial ¹⁶  for you.

1 Samuel 22:22

22:22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would certainly tell Saul! I am guilty ¹⁷  of all the deaths in your father’s house!

1 Samuel 23:23

23:23 Locate precisely all the places where he hides and return to me with dependable information. ¹⁸  Then I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will find him ¹⁹  among all the thousands of Judah.”

1 Samuel 24:10

24:10 Today your own eyes see how the Lord delivered you – this very day – into my hands in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I had pity ²⁰  on you and said, ‘I will not extend my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s chosen one.’ ²¹ 

1 Samuel 25:17

25:17 Now be aware of this, and see what you can do. For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household. ²²  He is such a wicked person ²³  that no one tells him anything!”

1 Samuel 25:36

25:36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time ²⁴  and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing ²⁵  until morning’s light.

1 Samuel 26:8

26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me drive the spear ²⁶  right through him into the ground with one swift jab! ²⁷  A second jab won’t be necessary!”

1 Samuel 26:15

26:15 David said to Abner, “Aren’t you a man? After all, who is like you in Israel? Why then haven’t you protected your lord the king? One of the soldiers came to kill your lord the king.

1 Samuel 27:1

David Aligns Himself with the Philistines

27:1 David thought to himself, ²⁸  “One of these days I’m going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand.”

1 Samuel 29:8

29:8 But David said to Achish, “What have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day that I first came into your presence until the present time, that I shouldn’t go and fight the enemies of my lord the king?”

1 Samuel 30:8

30:8 David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Should I pursue this raiding band? Will I overtake them?” He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them and carry out a rescue!”

1 Samuel 30:21

30:21 Then David approached the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to go with him, ²⁹  those whom they had left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and the people who were with him. When David approached the people, he asked how they were doing.

1 Samuel 31:4

31:4 Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it.

[3:6]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:3]  ² tc The LXX and a Qumran ms add “the covenant of the Lord.”

[9:6]  ³ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[9:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “do not fix your heart.”

[9:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “and all the house of your father.”

[11:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “yoke.”

[11:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “like one man.”

[13:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “dispersed from upon me.”

[14:41]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “to the Lord God of Israel: ‘Give what is perfect.’” The Hebrew textual tradition has accidentally omitted several words here. The present translation follows the LXX (as do several English versions, cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 247-48, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 132.

[14:41]  sn The Urim and Thummim were used for lot casting in ancient Israel. Their exact identity is uncertain; they may have been specially marked stones drawn from a bag. See Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8, and Deut 33:8, as well as the discussion in R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 140.

[14:41]  ¹¹ tn Heb “went out.”

[16:7]  ¹² tn Heb “don’t look toward.”

[16:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “for not that which the man sees.” The translation follows the LXX, which reads, “for not as man sees does God see.” The MT has suffered from homoioteleuton or homoioarcton. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 274.

[16:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to the eyes.”

[19:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “spoke good with respect to David.”

[19:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “good.”

[22:22]  ¹⁷ tc The translation follows the LXX, which reads “I am guilty,” rather than the MT, which has “I have turned.”

[23:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “established.”

[23:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I will search him out.”

[24:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “it had pity,” apparently with the understood subject being “my eye,” in accordance with a common expression.

[24:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “anointed.”

[25:17]  ²² tn Heb “all his house” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “his whole family.”

[25:17]  ²³ tn Heb “he is a son of worthlessness.”

[25:36]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and the heart of Nabal was good upon him”; NASB, NRSV “Nabal’s heart was merry within him”; NIV “he was in high spirits”; NCV, TEV “was in a good mood”; CEV “was very drunk and feeling good.”

[25:36]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and she did not tell him a thing, small or large.”

[26:8]  ²⁶ tn Here “the spear” almost certainly refers to Saul’s own spear, which according to the previous verse was stuck into the ground beside him as he slept. This is reflected in a number of English versions: TEV, CEV “his own spear”; NLT “that spear.” Cf. NIV, NCV “my spear,” in which case Abishai refers to his own spear rather than Saul’s, but this is unlikely since (1) Abishai would probably not have carried a spear along since such a weapon would be unwieldy when sneaking into the enemy camp; and (2) this would not explain the mention of Saul’s own spear stuck in the ground beside him in the previous verse.

[26:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”

[27:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “said to his heart.”

[30:21]  ²⁹ tn Heb “David.” The pronoun (“him”) has been substituted for the proper name in the translation for stylistic reasons.