1 Samuel 5:4

5:4 But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left intact. ¹ 

1 Samuel 14:12

14:12 Then the men of the garrison said to Jonathan and his armor bearer, “Come on up to us so we can teach you a thing or two!” ²  Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up behind me, for the Lord has given ³  them into the hand of Israel!”

1 Samuel 17:39

17:39 David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them. ⁴  David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them.

1 Samuel 29:3

29:3 The leaders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the leaders of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me for quite some time? ⁵  I have found no fault with him from the day of his defection until the present time!” ⁶ 

¹ tc Heb “only Dagon was left.” We should probably read the word גֵּו (gev, “back”) before Dagon, understanding it to have the sense of the similar word גְּוִיָּה (gÿviyyah, “body”). This variant is supported by the following evidence: The LXX has ἡ ῥάχις (Jh rJacis, “the back” or “trunk”); the Syriac Peshitta has wegusmeh (“and the body of”); the Targum has gupyeh (“the body of”); the Vulgate has truncus (“the trunk of,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT). On the strength of this evidence the present translation employs the phrase “Dagon’s body.”

² tn Heb “a thing.”

³ tn The perfect verbal form is used rhetorically here to express Jonathan’s certitude. As far as he is concerned, the victory is as good as won and can be described as such.

³ tn Heb “he had not tested.”

⁴ tn Heb “these days or these years.”

⁵ tn Heb “from the day of his falling [away] until this day.”