1 Samuel 7:4

7:4 So the Israelites ¹  removed the Baals and images of Ashtoreth. They served only the Lord.

1 Samuel 11:8

11:8 When Saul counted them at Bezek, the Israelites were 300,000 ²  strong and the men of Judah numbered 30,000. ³ 

1 Samuel 13:1

Saul Fails the Lord

13:1 Saul was [thirty] ⁴  years old when he began to reign; he ruled over Israel for [forty] ⁵  years.

1 Samuel 14:18

14:18 So Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ephod,” ⁶  for he was at that time wearing the ephod. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 16:6

16:6 When they arrived, Samuel ⁸  noticed ⁹  Eliab and said to himself, ¹⁰  “Surely, here before the Lord stands his chosen king!” ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 16:8

16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. ¹²  But Samuel ¹³  said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.”

¹ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

² tc The LXX and two Old Latin mss read 600,000 here, rather than the MT’s 300,000.

³ tc The LXX, two Old Latin mss, and a Qumran ms read 70,000 here, rather than the MT’s 30,000.

³ tc The MT does not have “thirty.” A number appears to have dropped out of the Hebrew text here, since as it stands the MT (literally, “a son of a year”) must mean that Saul was only one year old when he began to reign! The KJV, attempting to resolve this, reads “Saul reigned one year,” but that is not the normal meaning of the Hebrew text represented by the MT. Although most LXX mss lack the entire verse, some Greek mss have “thirty years” here (while others have “one year” like the MT). The Syriac Peshitta has Saul’s age as twenty-one. But this seems impossible to harmonize with the implied age of Saul’s son Jonathan in the following verse. Taking into account the fact that in v. 2 Jonathan was old enough to be a military leader, some scholars prefer to supply in v. 1 the number forty (cf. ASV, NASB). The present translation (“thirty”) is a possible but admittedly uncertain proposal based on a few Greek mss and followed by a number of English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, NLT). Other English versions simply supply ellipsis marks for the missing number (e.g., NAB, NRSV).

⁴ tc The MT has “two years” here. If this number is to be accepted as correct, the meaning apparently would be that after a lapse of two years at the beginning of Saul’s reign, he then went about the task of consolidating an army as described in what follows (cf. KJV, ASV, CEV). But if the statement in v. 1 is intended to be a comprehensive report on the length of Saul’s reign, the number is too small. According to Acts 13:21 Saul reigned for forty years. Some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, NLT), taking this forty to be a round number, add it to the “two years” of the MT and translate the number in 2 Sam 13:1 as “forty-two years.” While this is an acceptable option, the present translation instead replaces the MT’s “two” with the figure “forty.” Admittedly the textual evidence for this decision is weak, but the same can be said of any attempt to restore sense to this difficult text (note the ellipsis marks at this point in NAB, NRSV). The Syriac Peshitta lacks this part of v. 1.

⁴ tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v.19. This reading is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, TEV, NLT).

⁵ tc Heb “for the ark of God was in that day, and the sons of Israel.” The translation follows the text of some Greek manuscripts. See the previous note.

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “saw.”

⁷ tn Heb “said”; the words “to himself” are implied, given the secrecy surrounding Samuel’s mission to Bethlehem (v. 2).

⁸ tn Heb “his anointed one.”

⁶ tn Heb “and caused him to pass before.”

⁷ tn Heb “he” (also in v. 9); the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.