1 Samuel 2:3

2:3 Don’t keep speaking so arrogantly, ¹ 

letting proud talk come out of your mouth!

For the Lord is a God who knows;

he ²  evaluates what people do.

1 Samuel 2:19

2:19 His mother used to make him a small robe and bring it up to him at regular intervals when she would go up with her husband to make the annual sacrifice.

1 Samuel 4:9

4:9 Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!”

1 Samuel 7:8

7:8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep ³  crying out to the Lord our ⁴  God so that he may save us ⁵  from the hand of the Philistines!”

1 Samuel 8:5

8:5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead ⁶  us, just like all the other nations have.”

1 Samuel 13:8

13:8 He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. ⁷  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 15:29

15:29 The Preeminent One ⁹  of Israel does not go back on his word ¹⁰  or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.” ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 15:35

15:35 Until the day he ¹²  died Samuel did not see Saul again. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ¹³  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

1 Samuel 20:36

20:36 He said to his servant, “Run, find the arrows that I am about to shoot.” As the servant ran, Jonathan ¹⁴  shot the arrow beyond him.

1 Samuel 21:13

21:13 He altered his behavior in their presence. ¹⁵  Since he was in their power, ¹⁶  he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard.

¹ tn Heb “proudly, proudly.” If MT is original, the repetition of the word is for emphasis, stressing the arrogance of those addressed. However, a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts and some other textual witnesses do not reflect the repetition, suggesting that the Hebrew text may be dittographic.

² tc The MT (Qere) reads “and by him actions are weighed.” The translation assumes that reading of the Qere וְלוֹ (vÿlo, “and by him”), which is supported by many medieval Hebrew mss, is correct, rather than the reading of the Kethib וְלוֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

³ tn Heb “don’t stop.”

⁴ tc The LXX reads “your God” rather than the MT’s “our God.”

⁵ tn After the negated jussive, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

⁵ tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).

⁷ tn This apparently refers to the instructions given by Samuel in 1 Sam 10:8. If so, several years had passed. On the relationship between chs. 10 and 13, see V. P. Long, The Art of Biblical History (FCI), 201-23.

⁸ tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”

⁹ tn Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord.

¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “does not lie.”

¹¹ sn This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Change His Mind?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

¹¹ tn That is, Samuel.

¹³ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ tn Heb “in their eyes.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “in their hand.”