2:18 Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord. The boy was dressed in a linen ephod.
2:26 Now the boy Samuel was growing up and finding favor both with the Lord and with people.
3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. 1 Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.
16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. 5 Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”
16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. 6 Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, 7 for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” 8
3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord; the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 3:8 Then the Lord called Samuel a third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me!” Eli then realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy. 3:9 So Eli said to Samuel, “Go back and lie down. When he calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place.
3:10 Then the Lord came and stood nearby, calling as he had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!” 3:11 The Lord said to Samuel, “Look! I am about to do something in Israel; 10 when anyone hears about it, both of his ears will tingle.
18:12 So Saul feared David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.
1:3 Year after year 12 this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord’s priests.
12:1 So remember 13 your Creator in the days of your youth –
before 14 the difficult 15 days come,
and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
3:15 While the people were filled with anticipation 23 and they all wondered 24 whether perhaps John 25 could be the Christ, 26
1 tn Heb “before Eli.”
1 tc The LXX has a lengthy addition here: “And Samuel was acknowledged to be a prophet of the
2 tn The chapter division at this point is inappropriate. 1 Sam 4:1a is best understood as the conclusion to chap. 3 rather than the beginning of chap. 4.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jesse) has been specified in the translation both here and in v. 12 for clarity.
1 tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”
1 tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
3 tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
1 tn The Hebrew text adds “so that” here, formally connecting this clause with the next.
1 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
1 tn Heb “from days to days.”
1 tn The imperative זְכֹר (zekhor, “Remember!”) is a figurative expression (metonymy of association) for obeying God and acknowledging his lordship over one’s life (e.g., Num 15:40; Deut 8:18; Pss 42:6-7; 63:6-8; 78:42; 103:18; 106:7; 119:52, 55; Jer 51:50; Ezek 20:43; Jonah 2:7; Mal 4:4). The exhortation to fear God and obey his commands in 12:13-14 spells out what it means to “remember” God.
2 tn The temporal adjective עַד (’ad, “before”) appears three times in 12:1-7 (vv. 1b, 2a, 6a). Likewise, the temporal preposition בְּ (bet, “when”) is repeated (vv. 3a, 4b). These seven verses comprise one long sentence in Hebrew: The main clause is 12:1a (“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth”), while 12:1b-7 consists of five subordinate temporal clauses (“before…before…when…when…before…”).
3 tn The adjective רָעָה (ra’ah, “evil”) does not refer here to ethical evil, but to physical difficulty, injury, pain, deprivation and suffering (e.g., Deut 31:17, 21; 32:23; 1 Sam 10:19; Neh 1:3; 2:17; Pss 34:20; 40:13; 88:4; 107:26; Eccl 11:10; Jer 2:27; Lam 3:38); see HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4.b; BDB 949 s.v. רָעָה 2.
1 tn Grk “before.”
2 tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.
3 tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.
1 tn Grk “even as”; this compares the recorded tradition of 1:1 with the original eyewitness tradition of 1:2.
2 tn Or “delivered.”
3 sn The phrase eyewitnesses and servants of the word refers to a single group of people who faithfully passed on the accounts about Jesus. The language about delivery (passed on) points to accounts faithfully passed on to the early church.
4 tn Grk “like the accounts those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word passed on to us.” The location of “in the beginning” in the Greek shows that the tradition is rooted in those who were with Jesus from the start.
1 tn Or “with expectation.” The participle προσδοκῶντος (prosdokwnto") is taken temporally.
2 tn Grk “pondered in their hearts.”
3 tn Grk “in their hearts concerning John, (whether) perhaps he might be the Christ.” The translation simplifies the style here.
4 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”