1 Samuel 1:20

1:20 After some time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, thinking, “I asked the Lord for him. ¹ 

1 Samuel 1:28

1:28 Now I dedicate him to the Lord. From this time on he is dedicated to the Lord.” Then they ²  worshiped the Lord there.

1 Samuel 2:19

2:19 His mother used to make him a small robe and bring it up to him at regular intervals when she would go up with her husband to make the annual sacrifice.

1 Samuel 2:32

2:32 You will see trouble in my dwelling place! ³  Israel will experience blessings, ⁴  but there will not be an old man in your ⁵  house for all time. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 2:35

2:35 Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a secure dynasty ⁷  and he will serve my chosen one for all time. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 7:2

Further Conflict with the Philistines

7:2 It was quite a long time – some twenty years in all – that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people ⁹  of Israel longed for ¹⁰  the Lord.

1 Samuel 18:26

18:26 So his servants told David these things and David agreed ¹¹  to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired ¹² 

1 Samuel 18:29

18:29 Saul became even more afraid of him. ¹³  Saul continued to be at odds with David from then on. ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 23:14

23:14 David stayed in the strongholds that were in the desert and in the hill country of the desert of Ziph. Saul looked for him all the time, ¹⁵  but God did not deliver David ¹⁶  into his hand.

[1:20]  ¹ tn Heb “because from the Lord I asked him.” The name “Samuel” sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “asked.” The explanation of the meaning of the name “Samuel” that is provided in v. 20 is not a strict etymology. It seems to suggest that the first part of the name is derived from the Hebrew root שׁאל (sh’l, “to ask”), but the consonants do not support this. Nor is it likely that the name comes from the root שׁמא (shm’, “to hear”), for the same reason. It more probably derives from שֶׁם (shem, “name”), so that “Samuel” means “name of God.” Verse 20 therefore does not set forth a linguistic explanation of the meaning of the name, but rather draws a parallel between similar sounds. This figure of speech is known as paronomasia.

[1:28]  ² tn Heb “he,” apparently referring to Samuel (but cf. CEV “Elkanah”). A few medieval manuscripts and some ancient versions take the verb as plural (cf. TEV, NLT).

[2:32]  ³ tn Heb “you will see [the] trouble of [the] dwelling place.” Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun is supplied in the translation (see v. 29).

[2:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”

[2:32]  ⁵ tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.

[2:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “all the days.”

[2:35]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[2:35]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he will walk about before my anointed one all the days.”

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “mourned after”; NIV “mourned and sought after”; KJV, NRSV “lamented after”; NAB “turned to”; NCV “began to follow…again.”

[18:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it was acceptable in the eyes of David.”

[18:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “the days were not fulfilled.”

[18:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “of David.” In the translation the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun for stylistic reasons.

[18:29]  ⁸ tc The final sentence of v. 29 is absent in most LXX mss.

[23:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “all the days.”

[23:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.