1 Samuel 6:20

6:20 The residents of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark ¹  go up from here?”

1 Samuel 1:11

1:11 She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion ²  on the suffering of your female servant, ³  remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child ⁴  to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” ⁵ 

1 Samuel 2:14

2:14 He would jab it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot, and everything that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all the Israelites ⁶  when they came there to Shiloh.

1 Samuel 6:9

6:9 But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”

1 Samuel 9:13

9:13 When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for ⁷  this is the time when you can find him!”

1 Samuel 29:9

29:9 Achish replied to David, “I am convinced that you are as reliable ⁸  as the angel of God! However, the leaders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us in the battle.’

¹ tn Heb “he” or “it”; the referent here (the ark) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. also NIV, CEV, NLT). Others, however, take the referent to be the Lord himself.

² tn Heb “if looking you look.” The expression can refer, as here, to looking favorably upon another, in this case with compassion.

³ tn Heb “handmaid.” The use of this term (translated two more times in this verse and once each in vv. 16, 17 simply as “servant” for stylistic reasons) is an expression of humility.

⁴ tn Heb “seed of men.”

⁵ tn Heb “a razor will not go up upon his head.”

³ tn Heb “to all Israel.”

⁴ tc The MT has “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto) here, in addition to the “him” at the end of the verse. The ancient versions attest to only one occurrence of the pronoun, although it is possible that this is due to translation technique rather than to their having a Hebrew text with the pronoun used only once. The present translation assumes textual duplication in the MT and does not attempt to represent the pronoun twice. However, for a defense of the MT here, with the suggested translation “for him just now – you will find him,” see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 72-73.

⁵ tn Heb “I know that you are good in my eyes.”