1 Samuel 13:13

13:13 Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed ¹  the commandment that the Lord your God gave ²  you. Had you done that, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever!

1 Samuel 15:22

15:22 Then Samuel said,

“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as he does in obedience? ³ 

Certainly, ⁴  obedience ⁵  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ⁶  the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 15:1

Saul Is Rejected as King

15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “I was the one the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord says. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 14:6

14:6 Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come on, let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will intervene ⁸  for us. Nothing can prevent the Lord from delivering, whether by many or by a few.”

1 Samuel 17:1

David Kills Goliath

17:1 ⁹ The Philistines gathered their troops ¹⁰  for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

1 Samuel 18:17

18:17 ¹¹ Then Saul said to David, “Here’s my oldest daughter, Merab. I want to give her to you in marriage. Only be a brave warrior ¹²  for me and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul thought, “There’s no need for me to raise my hand against him. Let it be the hand of the Philistines!”

1 Samuel 18:2

18:2 Saul retained David ¹³  on that day and did not allow him to return to his father’s house.

1 Samuel 1:16

1:16 Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman, ¹⁴  for until now I have spoken from my deep pain and anguish.”

1 Samuel 1:2

1:2 He had two wives; the name of the first was Hannah and the name of the second was Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.

1 Samuel 21:12

21:12 David thought about what they said ¹⁵  and was very afraid of King Achish of Gath.

Isaiah 58:1

The Lord Desires Genuine Devotion

58:1 “Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet!

Yell as loud as a trumpet!

Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; ¹⁶ 

confront Jacob’s family with their sin! ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 1:10

1:10 Know for certain that ¹⁸  I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be ¹⁹  uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 1:18

1:18 I, the Lord, ²¹  hereby promise to make you ²²  as strong as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. You will be able to stand up against all who live in ²³  the land, including the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and all the people of the land.

Jeremiah 5:14

5:14 Because of that, ²⁴  the Lord, the God who rules over all, ²⁵  said to me, ²⁶ 

“Because these people have spoken ²⁷  like this, ²⁸ 

I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire.

And I will make this people like wood

which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” ²⁹ 

Jeremiah 13:13

13:13 Then ³⁰  tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor. ³¹  I will also fill the kings from David’s dynasty, ³²  the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor. ³³ 

Ezekiel 3:9

3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ³⁴  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ³⁵  for they are a rebellious house.”

Ezekiel 43:3

43:3 It was like the vision I saw when he ³⁶  came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down.

Acts 7:31

7:31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord,

[13:13]  ¹ tn Or “kept.”

[13:13]  ² tn Heb “commanded.”

[15:22]  ³ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “look.”

[15:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22]  ⁶ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

[15:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the voice of the words of the Lord” (so KJV).

[14:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “act.”

[17:1]  ⁹ tc The content of 1 Sam 17–18, which includes the David and Goliath story, differs considerably in the LXX as compared to the MT, suggesting that this story circulated in ancient times in more than one form. The LXX for chs. 17–18 is much shorter than the MT, lacking almost half of the material (39 of a total of 88 verses). Many scholars (e.g., McCarter, Klein) think that the shorter text of the LXX is preferable to the MT, which in their view has been expanded by incorporation of later material. Other scholars (e.g., Wellhausen, Driver) conclude that the shorter Greek text (or the Hebrew text that underlies it) reflects an attempt to harmonize certain alleged inconsistencies that appear in the longer version of the story. Given the translation characteristics of the LXX elsewhere in this section, it does not seem likely that these differences are due to deliberate omission of these verses on the part of the translator. It seems more likely that the Greek translator has faithfully rendered here a Hebrew text that itself was much shorter than the MT in these chapters. Whether or not the shorter text represented by the LXX is to be preferred over the MT in 1 Sam 17–18 is a matter over which textual scholars are divided. For a helpful discussion of the major textual issues in this unit see D. Barthélemy, D. W. Gooding, J. Lust, and E. Tov, The Story of David and Goliath (OBO). Overall it seems preferable to stay with the MT, at least for the most part. However, the major textual differences between the LXX and the MT will be mentioned in the notes that accompany the translation so that the reader may be alert to the major problem passages.

[17:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “camps.”

[18:17]  ¹¹ tc Much of the ms evidence for the LXX lacks vv. 17-19.

[18:17]  ¹² tn Heb “son of valor.”

[18:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “daughter of worthlessness.”

[21:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “placed these matters in his heart.”

[58:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “declare to my people their rebellion.”

[58:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and to the house of Jacob their sin.” The verb “declare” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[1:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “See!” The Hebrew imperative of the verb used here (רָאָה, ra’ah) functions the same as the particle in v. 9. See the translator’s note there.

[1:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I appoint you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot….” The phrase refers to the Lord giving Jeremiah authority as a prophet to declare what he, the Lord, will do; it does not mean that Jeremiah himself will do these things. The expression involves a figure of speech where the subject of a declaration is stated instead of the declaration about it. Compare a similar use of the same figure in Gen 41:13.

[1:10]  ²⁰ sn These three pairs represent the twofold nature of Jeremiah’s prophecies, prophecies of judgment and restoration. For the further programmatic use of these pairs for Jeremiah’s ministry see 18:7-10 and 31:27-28.

[1:18]  ²¹ tn See the note on “Jeremiah” at the beginning of v. 17.

[1:18]  ²² tn Heb “today I have made you.” The Hebrew verb form here emphasizes the certainty of a yet future act; the Lord is promising to protect Jeremiah from any future attacks which may result from his faithfully carrying out his commission. See a similar use of the same Hebrew verb tense in v. 9, and see the translator’s note there.

[1:18]  ²³ tn Heb “I make you a fortified city…against all the land….” The words “as strong as” and “so you will be able to stand against all the people of…” are given to clarify the meaning of the metaphor.

[5:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Therefore.”

[5:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “The Lord God of armies.” See the translator’s note at 2:19.

[5:14]  ²⁶ tn The words, “to me” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “you have spoken.” The text here דַּבֶּרְכֶם (dabberkhem, “you have spoken”) is either a case of a scribal error for דַּבֶּרָם (dabberam, “they have spoken”) or an example of the rapid shift in addressee which is common in Jeremiah.

[5:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “this word.”

[5:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “like wood and it [i.e., the fire I put in your mouth] will consume them.”

[13:13]  ³⁰ tn The Greek version is likely right in interpreting the construction of two perfects preceded by the conjunction as contingent or consequential here, i.e., “and when they say…then say.” See GKC 494 §159.g. However, to render literally would create a long sentence. Hence, the words “will probably” have been supplied in v. 12 in the translation to set up the contingency/consequential sequence in the English sentences.

[13:13]  ³¹ sn It is probably impossible to convey in a simple translation all the subtle nuances that are wrapped up in the words of this judgment speech. The word translated “stupor” here is literally “drunkenness” but the word has in the context an undoubted intended double reference. It refers first to the drunken like stupor of confusion on the part of leaders and citizens of the land which will cause them to clash with one another. But it also probably refers to the reeling under God’s wrath that results from this (cf. Jer 25:15-29, especially vv. 15-16). Moreover there is still the subtle little play on wine jars. The people are like the wine jars which were supposed to be filled with wine. They were to be a special people to bring glory to God but they had become corrupt. Hence, like wine jars they would be smashed against one another and broken to pieces (v. 14). All of this, both “fill them with the stupor of confusion” and “make them reel under God’s wrath,” cannot be conveyed in one translation.

[13:13]  ³² tn Heb “who sit on David’s throne.”

[13:13]  ³³ tn In Hebrew this is all one long sentence with one verb governing compound objects. It is broken up here in conformity with English style.

[3:9]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “diamond” is parallel to “iron” in Jer 17:1. The Hebrew uses two terms which are both translated at times as “flint,” but here one is clearly harder than the other. The translation “diamond” attempts to reflect this distinction in English.

[3:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[43:3]  ³⁶ tc Heb “I.” The reading is due to the confusion of yod (י, indicating a first person pronoun) and vav (ו, indicating a third person pronoun). A few medieval Hebrew mss, Theodotion’s Greek version, and the Latin Vulgate support a third person pronoun here.