25:1 Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David left and went down to the desert of Paran. 2
went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand select men of Israel, to look for David in the desert of Ziph.
15:12 Then Samuel got up early to meet Saul the next morning. But Samuel was informed, “Saul has gone to Carmel where 3 he is setting up a monument for himself. Then Samuel left 4 and went down to Gilgal.” 5
17:8 Goliath 6 stood and called to Israel’s troops, 7 “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose 8 for yourselves a man so he may come down 9 to me!
1 tn Heb “to search.”
2 tc The LXX reads “Maon” here instead of “Paran,” perhaps because the following account of Nabal is said to be in Maon (v. 2). This reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT). The MT, however, reads “Paran,” a location which would parallel this portion of David’s life with that of the nation Israel which also spent time in Paran (Num 10:12). Also, the desert of Paran was on the southern border of Judah’s territory and would be the most isolated location for hiding from Saul.
3 tn Heb “and look.”
4 tn Heb “and he turned and crossed over.”
5 tc At the end of v. 12 the LXX and one Old Latin
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”
6 tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.
7 tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.