20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan 1 and said to him, “You stupid traitor! 2 Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse? 20:31 For as long as 3 this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men 4 and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” 5
3:18 So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli 8 said, “The Lord will do what he pleases.” 9
15:25 for he stretches out his hand against God, 10
and vaunts himself 11 against the Almighty,
2:6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,
for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 15
2:13 After they had gone, an 16 angel of the Lord 17 appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod 18 is going to look for the child to kill him.”
2:16 When Herod 19 saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men 20 to kill all the children in Bethlehem 21 and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.
1 tc Many medieval Hebrew
2 tn Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.
3 tn Heb “all the days that.”
4 tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
5 tn Heb “a son of death.”
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “So God will do to you and thus he will add.” The verbal forms in this pronouncement are imperfects, not jussives, but the statement has the force of a curse or warning. One could translate, “May God do to you and thus may he add.”
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”
10 sn The symbol of the outstretched hand is the picture of attempting to strike someone, or shaking a fist at someone; it is a symbol of a challenge or threat (see Isa 5:25; 9:21; 10:4).
11 tn The Hitpael of גָּבַר (gavar) means “to act with might” or “to behave like a hero.” The idea is that the wicked boldly vaunts himself before the
12 sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.
13 tn Or “and scribes of the people.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.
14 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
15 sn A quotation from Mic 5:2.
16 tn Grk “behold, an angel.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
17 tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.
18 sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Herod the Great was particularly ruthless regarding the succession to his throne.
19 sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Note the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the angel in 2:13.
20 tn Or “soldiers.”
21 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.