4:16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines! Just today I fled from the battle lines!” Eli 2 asked, “How did things go, my son?” 4:17 The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from 3 the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!”
4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli 4 fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he 5 was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.
21:12 David thought about what they said 10 and was very afraid of King Achish of Gath. 21:13 He altered his behavior in their presence. 11 Since he was in their power, 12 he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard.
28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;
indeed, 13 every morning it will sweep by,
it will come through during the day and the night.” 14
When this announcement is understood,
it will cause nothing but terror.
1 tn The Hebrew text adds “so that” here, formally connecting this clause with the next.
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “before.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “the man.”
6 tn Heb “to meet.”
7 tn The MT has וַתִּטֹּשׁ (vattittosh), from the root נטשׁ (ntsh). This verb normally means “to leave,” “to forsake,” or “to permit,” but such an idea does not fit this context very well. Many scholars have suspected that the text originally read either וַתֵּט (vattet, “and it spread out”), from the root נטה (nth), or וַתִּקֶשׁ (vattiqesh, “and it grew fierce”), from the root קשׂה (qsh). The former suggestion is apparently supported by the LXX ἔκλινεν (eklinen, “it inclined”) and is adopted in the translation.
8 tn Heb “before.”
9 tn Heb “the Philistines, and they killed.” The pronoun “they” has been translated as a relative pronoun (“who”) to make it clear to the English reader that the Philistines were the ones who did the killing.
10 tn Heb “placed these matters in his heart.”
11 tn Heb “in their eyes.”
12 tn Heb “in their hand.”
13 tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
14 tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.