1 Samuel 13:8-11

13:8 He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. ¹  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. ² 

13:9 So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” Then he offered a burnt offering. 13:10 Just when he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel appeared on the scene. Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. ³ 

13:11 But Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the army had started to abandon me ⁴  and that you didn’t come at the appointed time and that the Philistines had assembled at Micmash,

¹ 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.

² tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”

³ tn Heb “to bless him.”

⁵ tn Heb “dispersed from upon me.”