1 Samuel 1:12

1:12 As she continued praying to 1  the Lord, Eli was watching her mouth.

1 Samuel 2:9

2:9 He watches over 2  his holy ones, 3 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

1 tc Heb “before.” Many medieval Hebrew manuscripts read “to.”

2 tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

3 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.