1 Samuel 4:2

4:2 The Philistines arranged their forces to fight ¹  Israel. As the battle spread out, ²  Israel was defeated by ³  the Philistines, who ⁴  killed about four thousand men in the battle line in the field.

1 Samuel 4:8

4:8 Too bad for us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert!

1 Samuel 5:6

5:6 The Lord attacked ⁵  the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of ⁶  both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 7:11

7:11 Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.

1 Samuel 13:3-4

13:3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost ⁸  that was at Geba and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul alerted ⁹  all the land saying, “Let the Hebrews pay attention!” 13:4 All Israel heard this message, ¹⁰  “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel is repulsive ¹¹  to the Philistines!” So the people were summoned to join ¹²  Saul at Gilgal.

1 Samuel 14:14

14:14 In this initial skirmish Jonathan and his armor bearer struck down about twenty men in an area that measured half an acre.

1 Samuel 17:36

17:36 Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. ¹³  For he has defied the armies of the living God!”

1 Samuel 17:50

17:50 ¹⁴ David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 17:57

17:57 So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. He still had the head of the Philistine in his hand.

1 Samuel 19:8

19:8 Now once again there was war. So David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them thoroughly ¹⁶  and they ran away from him.

1 Samuel 20:33

20:33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan ¹⁷  in order to strike him down. So Jonathan was convinced ¹⁸  that his father had decided to kill David.

1 Samuel 22:19

22:19 As for Nob, the city of the priests, he struck down with the sword men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep – all with the sword.

1 Samuel 24:5

24:5 Afterward David’s conscience bothered him ¹⁹  because he had cut off an edge of Saul’s robe.

1 Samuel 27:9

27:9 When David would attack a district, ²⁰  he would leave neither man nor woman alive. He would take sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing and would then go back to Achish.

1 Samuel 29:5

29:5 Isn’t this David, of whom they sang as they danced, ²¹ 

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,

but David his tens of thousands’?”

1 Samuel 31:2

31:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels ²²  of Saul and his sons. They ²³  struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

¹ tn Heb “to meet.”

² 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.

³ tn Heb “before.”

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was heavy upon.”

⁶ tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁷ tc The LXX and Vulgate add the following: “And mice multiplied in their land, and the terror of death was throughout the entire city.”

⁹ tn Or perhaps “struck down the Philistine official.” See the note at 1 Sam 10:5. Cf. TEV “killed the Philistine commander.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “blew the ram’s horn in.”

¹³ tn The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁴ tn Heb “stinks.” The figurative language indicates that Israel had become repulsive to the Philistines.

¹⁵ tn Heb “were summoned after.”

¹⁷ tc The LXX includes here the following words not found in the MT: “Should I not go and smite him, and remove today reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised one?”

²¹ tc Most LXX mss lack v. 50.

²² tn Verse 50 is a summary statement; v. 51 gives a more detailed account of how David killed the Philistine.

²⁵ tn Heb “and he struck them down with a great blow.”

²⁹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁰ tn Heb “knew.”

³³ tn Heb “the heart of David struck him.”

³⁷ tn Heb “the land.”

⁴¹ tn Heb “in dances.”

⁴⁵ tn Heb “stuck close after.”

⁴⁶ tn Heb “the Philistines.”