1 Samuel 15:28

15:28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to one of your colleagues who is better than you!

1 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ¹  Israel along the way when Israel ²  came up from Egypt.

1 Samuel 4:11

4:11 The ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were killed.

1 Samuel 4:2

4:2 The Philistines arranged their forces to fight ³  Israel. As the battle spread out, ⁴  Israel was defeated by ⁵  the Philistines, who ⁶  killed about four thousand men in the battle line in the field.

1 Samuel 21:13

21:13 He altered his behavior in their presence. ⁷  Since he was in their power, ⁸  he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard.

Esther 1:19

1:19 If the king is so inclined, ⁹  let a royal edict go forth from him, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media that cannot be repealed, ¹⁰  that Vashti ¹¹  may not come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king convey her royalty to another ¹²  who is more deserving than she. ¹³ 

¹ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “to meet.”

⁴ tn The MT has וַתִּטֹּשׁ (vattittosh), from the root נטשׁ (ntsh). This verb normally means “to leave,” “to forsake,” or “to permit,” but such an idea does not fit this context very well. Many scholars have suspected that the text originally read either וַתֵּט (vattet, “and it spread out”), from the root נטה (nth), or וַתִּקֶשׁ (vattiqesh, “and it grew fierce”), from the root קשׂה (qsh). The former suggestion is apparently supported by the LXX ἔκλινεν (eklinen, “it inclined”) and is adopted in the translation.

⁵ tn Heb “before.”

⁶ tn Heb “the Philistines, and they killed.” The pronoun “they” has been translated as a relative pronoun (“who”) to make it clear to the English reader that the Philistines were the ones who did the killing.

⁷ tn Heb “in their eyes.”

⁸ tn Heb “in their hand.”

⁹ sn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.” Deferential language was common in ancient Near Eastern court language addressing a despot; it occurs often in Esther.

¹⁰ sn Laws…that cannot be repealed. On the permanence of the laws of Media and Persia see also Esth 8:8 and Dan 6:8, 12, 15.

¹¹ sn Previously in this chapter the word “queen” accompanies Vashti’s name (cf. vv. 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17). But here, in anticipation of her demotion, the title is dropped.

¹² tn Heb “her neighbor”; NIV “someone else.”

¹³ tn Heb “who is better than she.” The reference is apparently to worthiness of the royal position as demonstrated by compliance with the king’s wishes, although the word טוֹב (tob, “good”) can also be used of physical beauty. Cf. NAB, NASB, NLT “more worthy than she.”