2:3 Don’t keep speaking so arrogantly, 4
letting proud talk come out of your mouth!
For the Lord is a God who knows;
he 5 evaluates what people do.
3:18 So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli 10 said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” 11
18:26 So his servants told David these things and David agreed 18 to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired 19
1 tn The MT has a masculine form of the verb here יַעֲשֶׂה (ya’aseh, “he used to do”); the subject in that case would presumably be Elkanah. But this leads to an abrupt change of subject in the following part of the verse, where the subject is the rival wife who caused Hannah anxiety. In light of v. 6 one expects the statement of v. 7 to refer to the ongoing actions of the rival wife: “she used to behave in this way year after year.” Some scholars have proposed retaining the masculine form but changing the vocalization of the verb so as to read a Niphal rather than a Qal (i.e., יֵעֲשֶׂה, ye’aseh, “so it used to be done”). But the problem here is lack of precedent for such a use of the Niphal of this verb. It seems best in light of the context to understand the reference to be to Hannah’s rival Peninnah and to read here, with the Syriac Peshitta, a feminine form of the verb (“she used to do”). In the translation the referent (Peninnah) has been specified for clarity.
2 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Hannah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Peninnah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “proudly, proudly.” If MT is original, the repetition of the word is for emphasis, stressing the arrogance of those addressed. However, a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts and some other textual witnesses do not reflect the repetition, suggesting that the Hebrew text may be dittographic.
5 tc The MT (Qere) reads “and by him actions are weighed.” The translation assumes that reading of the Qere וְלוֹ (vÿlo, “and by him”), which is supported by many medieval Hebrew
7 tn Heb “you will see [the] trouble of [the] dwelling place.” Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun is supplied in the translation (see v. 29).
8 tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”
9 tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.
10 tn Heb “all the days.”
10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”
13 tc The LXX adds “because you have chosen for yourselves a king.”
16 tn Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).
17 tc In place of the MT (“and it was like one being silent”) the LXX has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran
19 tn This apparently refers to the instructions given by Samuel in 1 Sam 10:8. If so, several years had passed. On the relationship between chs. 10 and 13, see V. P. Long, The Art of Biblical History (FCI), 201-23.
20 tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”
22 tn Heb “stand.”
25 tn Heb “and it was acceptable in the eyes of David.”
26 tn Heb “the days were not fulfilled.”
28 tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.
29 tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.
31 tn Heb “all the days.”
32 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
34 tn Heb “went on.”
37 tn Heb “and the
40 tn Heb “the land.”