1 Samuel 4:3

4:3 When the army ¹  came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by ²  the Philistines? Let’s take with us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. When it is with us, it will save us ³  from the hand of our enemies.

1 Samuel 9:13

9:13 When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for ⁴  this is the time when you can find him!”

1 Samuel 14:36

14:36 Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines at night; we will rout ⁵  them until the break of day. ⁶  We won’t leave any of them alive!” ⁷  They replied, “Do whatever seems best to you.” ⁸  But the priest said, “Let’s approach God here.”

1 Samuel 26:19

26:19 So let my lord the king now listen to the words of his servant. If the Lord has incited you against me, may he take delight in ⁹  an offering. But if men have instigated this, ¹⁰  may they be cursed before the Lord! For they have driven me away this day from being united with the Lord’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go on, serve other gods!’

[4:3]  ¹ tn Or “people.”

[4:3]  ² tn Heb “before.”

[4:3]  ³ tn Heb “and it will come in our midst and it will save.” After the cohortative (see “let’s take”), the prefixed verbal forms with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose or result. The translation understands the ark to be the subject of the third masculine singular verbs, although it is possible to understand the Lord as the subject. In the latter case, one should translate, “when he is with us, he will save us.”

[9:13]  ⁴ tc The MT has “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto) here, in addition to the “him” at the end of the verse. The ancient versions attest to only one occurrence of the pronoun, although it is possible that this is due to translation technique rather than to their having a Hebrew text with the pronoun used only once. The present translation assumes textual duplication in the MT and does not attempt to represent the pronoun twice. However, for a defense of the MT here, with the suggested translation “for him just now – you will find him,” see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 72-73.

[14:36]  ⁵ tn Heb “plunder.”

[14:36]  ⁶ tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”

[14:36]  ⁷ tn Heb “and there will not be left among them a man.”

[14:36]  ⁸ tn Heb “all that is good in your eyes.” So also in v. 40.

[26:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “may he smell.” The implication is that Saul should seek to appease God, for such divine instigation to evil would a sign of God’s disfavor. For a fuller discussion of this passage see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 19-21.

[26:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “but if the sons of men.”