1 Samuel 1:24

1:24 Once she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, an ephah ¹  of flour, and a container ²  of wine. She brought him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh, even though he was young. ³ 

1 Samuel 10:25

10:25 Then Samuel talked to the people about how the kingship would work. ⁴  He wrote it all down on a scroll and set it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away to their homes.

1 Samuel 19:22

19:22 Finally Saul ⁵  himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the large cistern that is in Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” They said, “At Naioth in Ramah.”

1 Samuel 22:2

22:2 All those who were in trouble or owed someone money or were discontented ⁶  gathered around ⁷  him, and he became their leader. He had about four hundred men with him.

1 Samuel 24:6

24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, ⁸  by extending my hand against him. After all, ⁹  he is the Lord’s chosen one.” ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 25:13

25:13 Then David instructed his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men followed David up, while two hundred stayed behind with the equipment.

¹ sn The ephah was a standard dry measure in OT times; it was the equivalent of one-tenth of the OT measure known as a homer. The ephah was equal to approximately one-half to two-thirds of a bushel.

² tn The Hebrew term translated “container” may denote either a clay storage jar (cf. CEV “a clay jar full of wine”) or a leather container (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “a skin of wine”; NCV “a leather bag filled with (full of TEV) wine.”

³ tc Heb “and the boy was a boy.” If the MT is correct the meaning apparently is that the boy was quite young at the time of these events. On the other hand, some scholars have suspected a textual problem, emending the text to read either “and the boy was with them” (so LXX) or “and the boy was with her” (a conjectural emendation). In spite of the difficulty it seems best to stay with the MT here.

⁴ tn Heb “the regulation of the kingship.” This probably refers to the regulations pertaining to kingship given to Moses (see Deut 17:14-20).

⁷ tn Heb “he” (also in v. 23). the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “bitter of soul.”

¹¹ tn Heb “to.”

¹³ tn Heb “anointed.”

¹⁴ tn Or “for.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “anointed.”