18:22 Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.” 18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately 2 to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”
18:24 When Saul’s servants reported what David had said, 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.)
18:26 So his servants told David these things and David agreed 4 to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired 5
23:21 Saul replied, “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me. 23:22 Go and make further arrangements. Determine precisely 6 where he is 7 and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning.
1 tc The final sentence of v. 21 is absent in most LXX
2 tn Heb “in the ears of.”
3 tn Heb “the king’s.”
4 tn Heb “and it was acceptable in the eyes of David.”
5 tn Heb “the days were not fulfilled.”
6 tn Heb “know and see.” The expression is a hendiadys. See also v. 23.
7 tn Heb “his place where his foot is.”
8 tc The LXX has the plural here, “cities.”
9 tc The translation follows the LXX and Vulgate which assume a reading וַיָּאָרֶב (vayya’arev, “and he set an ambush,” from the root ארב [’rv] with quiescence of alef) rather than the MT, which has וַיָּרֶב (vayyareb, “and he contended,” from the root ריב [ryv]).
10 tn That is, “the dry stream bed.”