1 Samuel 2:9

2:9 He watches over ¹  his holy ones, ² 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

1 Samuel 3:2

3:2 Eli’s eyes had begun to fail, so that he was unable to see well. At that time he was lying down in his place,

1 Samuel 5:12

5:12 The people ³  who did not die were struck with sores; the city’s cry for help went all the way up to heaven.

1 Samuel 8:19

8:19 But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. ⁴  Instead they said, “No! There will be a king over us!

1 Samuel 12:4

12:4 They replied, “You have not wronged us or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.”

1 Samuel 15:19

15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed ⁵  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” ⁶ 

1 Samuel 16:9

16:9 Then Jesse presented ⁷  Shammah. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”

1 Samuel 20:39

20:39 (Now the servant did not understand any of this. Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.) ⁸ 

1 Samuel 24:12-13

24:12 May the Lord judge between the two of us, and may the Lord vindicate me over you, but my hand will not be against you. 24:13 It’s like the old proverb says: ‘From evil people evil proceeds.’ But my hand will not be against you.

1 Samuel 25:19

25:19 and said to her servants, “Go on ahead of me. I will come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

¹ tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.

³ tn Heb “men.”

⁵ tn Heb “and the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel.”

⁷ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

⁸ tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁹ tn Heb “caused to pass by.”

¹¹ tn Heb “knew the matter.”