1 Samuel 18:17

18:17 ¹ Then Saul said to David, “Here’s my oldest daughter, Merab. I want to give her to you in marriage. Only be a brave warrior ²  for me and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul thought, “There’s no need for me to raise my hand against him. Let it be the hand of the Philistines!”

1 Samuel 18:25

18:25 Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his ³  enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)

1 Samuel 8:12

8:12 He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, ⁴  as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment.

1 Samuel 22:7

22:7 Saul said to his servants who were stationed around him, “Listen up, you Benjaminites! Is Jesse’s son giving fields and vineyards to all of you? Or is he making all of you ⁵  commanders and officers? ⁶ 

¹ tc Much of the ms evidence for the LXX lacks vv. 17-19.

² tn Heb “son of valor.”

³ tn Heb “the king’s.”

⁴ tc The numbers of v. 12 are confused in the Greek and Syriac versions. For “fifties” the LXX has “hundreds.” The Syriac Peshitta has “heads of thousands and heads of hundreds and heads of fifties and heads of tens,” perhaps reflecting influence from Deut 1:15.

⁵ tc The MT has “to all of you.” If this reading is correct, we have here an example of a prepositional phrase functioning as the equivalent of a dative of advantage, which is not impossible from a grammatical point of view. However, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate all have “and.” A conjunction rather than a preposition should probably be read on the front of this phrase.

⁶ tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”