1 Samuel 13:1

Saul Fails the Lord

13:1 Saul was [thirty] ¹  years old when he began to reign; he ruled over Israel for [forty] ²  years.

1 Samuel 16:6

16:6 When they arrived, Samuel ³  noticed ⁴  Eliab and said to himself, ⁵  “Surely, here before the Lord stands his chosen king!” ⁶ 

1 Samuel 16:8

16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. ⁷  But Samuel ⁸  said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.”

1 Samuel 30:19

30:19 There was nothing missing, whether small or great. He retrieved sons and daughters, the plunder, and everything else they had taken. ⁹  David brought everything back.

[13:1]  ¹ 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).

[13:1]  ² 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.

[16:6]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “said”; the words “to himself” are implied, given the secrecy surrounding Samuel’s mission to Bethlehem (v. 2).

[16:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “his anointed one.”

[16:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and caused him to pass before.”

[16:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “he” (also in v. 9); the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “there was nothing missing to them, from the small even unto the great, and unto sons and daughters, and from loot even unto all which they had taken for themselves.”