1 Samuel 17:55

17:55 ¹ Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”

1 Samuel 17:2

17:2 Saul and the Israelite army ²  assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against ³  the Philistines.

1 Samuel 2:8

2:8 He lifts the weak ⁴  from the dust;

he raises ⁵  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ⁶ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

1 Samuel 3:1

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ⁷  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

¹ tc Most LXX mss lack 17:55–18:5.

² tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”

³ tn Heb “to meet.”

⁴ tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

⁶ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”

⁷ tn Heb “before Eli.”