1 Samuel 6:3

6:3 They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of ¹  the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.”

1 Samuel 10:19

10:19 But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No! ²  Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”

1 Samuel 11:9

11:9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Here’s what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.’” When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy.

1 Samuel 12:3

12:3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king. ³  Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me, ⁴  and I will return it to you!”

1 Samuel 12:17

12:17 Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”

1 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Goliath ⁵  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ⁶  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ⁷  for yourselves a man so he may come down ⁸  to me!

¹ tc The LXX and a Qumran ms add “the covenant of the Lord.”

² tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading לֹא (lo’, “not”) rather than the MT לוֹ (lo; “to him”). Some witnesses combine the variants, resulting in a conflated text. For example, a few medieval Hebrew mss have לֹא לוֹ (lo lo’; “to him, ‘No.’”). A few others have לֹא לִי (li lo’; “to me, ‘No.’”).

³ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

⁴ tn The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

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.