1 Samuel 16:6

16:6 When they arrived, Samuel¹ noticed² Eliab and said to himself,³ “Surely, here before the Lord stands his chosen king!”⁴

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,⁵ by extending my hand against him. After all,⁶ he is the Lord’s chosen one.”⁷

1 Samuel 2:10

2:10 The Lord shatters⁸ his adversaries;⁹

he thunders against them from¹⁰ the heavens.

The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.

He will strengthen¹¹ his king

and exalt the power¹² of his anointed one.”¹³

1 Samuel 2:35

2:35 Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a secure dynasty¹⁴ and he will serve my chosen one for all time.¹⁵

1 Samuel 12:5

12:5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king¹⁶ is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.”¹⁷ They said, “He is witness!”

1 Samuel 26:9

26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill him! Who can extend his hand against the Lord’s chosen one¹⁸ and remain guiltless?”

1 Samuel 26:23

26:23 The Lord rewards each man for his integrity and loyalty.¹⁹ Even though today the Lord delivered you into my hand, I was not willing to extend my hand against the Lord’s chosen one.

1 Samuel 12:3

12:3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king.²⁰ Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me,²¹ and I will return it to you!”

1 Samuel 24:10

24:10 Today your own eyes see how the Lord delivered you – this very day – into my hands in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I had pity²² on you and said, ‘I will not extend my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s chosen one.’²³

1 Samuel 26:11

26:11 But may the Lord prevent me from extending my hand against the Lord’s chosen one! Now take the spear by Saul’s head and the jug of water, and let’s get out of here!”

1 Samuel 26:16

26:16 This failure on your part isn’t good!²⁴ As surely as the Lord lives, you people who have not protected your lord, the Lord’s chosen one, are as good as dead!²⁵ Now look where the king’s spear and the jug of water that was by his head are!”

¹tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²tn Heb “saw.”

³tn Heb “said”; the words “to himself” are implied, given the secrecy surrounding Samuel’s mission to Bethlehem (v. 2).

⁴tn Heb “his anointed one.”

⁵tn Heb “anointed.”

⁶tn Or “for.”

⁷tn Heb “anointed.”

⁹tn The imperfect verbal forms in this line and in the next two lines are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

¹⁰tc The present translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate in reading the plural (“his adversaries,” similarly many other English versions) rather than the singular (“his adversary”) of the Kethib.

¹¹tn The Hebrew preposition here has the sense of “from within.”

¹²tn The imperfect verbal forms in this and the next line are understood as indicating what is anticipated and translated with the future tense, because at the time of Hannah’s prayer Israel did not yet have a king.

¹³tn Heb “the horn,” here a metaphor for power or strength. Cf. NCV “make his appointed king strong”; NLT “increases the might of his anointed one.”

¹⁴tc The LXX greatly expands v. 10 with an addition that seems to be taken from Jer 9:23-24.

¹³tn Heb “house.”

¹⁴tn Heb “and he will walk about before my anointed one all the days.”

¹⁷tn Heb “anointed [one].”

¹⁸tn Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.”

²¹tn Heb “anointed” (also in vv. 11, 16, 23).

²⁵tn Heb “and the Lord returns to the man his righteousness and his faithfulness.”

²⁹tn Heb “anointed [one].”

³⁰tn The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³³tn Heb “it had pity,” apparently with the understood subject being “my eye,” in accordance with a common expression.

³⁴tn Heb “anointed.”

³⁷tn Heb “Not good [is] this thing which you have done.”

³⁸tn Heb “you are sons of death.”