1 Samuel 13:4-9

13:4 All Israel heard this message, ¹  “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel is repulsive ²  to the Philistines!” So the people were summoned to join ³  Saul at Gilgal.

13:5 For the battle with Israel the Philistines had amassed 3,000 ⁴  chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. 13:6 The men of Israel realized they had a problem because their army was hard pressed. So the army hid in caves, thickets, cliffs, strongholds, ⁵  and cisterns. 13:7 Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan River ⁶  to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul stayed at Gilgal; the entire army that was with him was terrified. 13:8 He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. ⁷  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. ⁸ 

13:9 So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” Then he offered a burnt offering.

[13:4]  ¹ tn The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:4]  ² tn Heb “stinks.” The figurative language indicates that Israel had become repulsive to the Philistines.

[13:4]  ³ tn Heb “were summoned after.”

[13:5]  ⁴ tn Many English versions (e.g., KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV) read “30,000” here.

[13:6]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “vaults.” This rare term also occurs in Judg 9:46, 49. Cf. KJV “high places”; ASV “coverts”; NAB “caverns”; NASB “cellars”; NIV, NCV, TEV “pits”; NRSV, NLT “tombs.”

[13:7]  ¹⁰ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[13:8]  ¹³ tn This apparently refers to the instructions given by Samuel in 1 Sam 10:8. If so, several years had passed. On the relationship between chs. 10 and 13, see V. P. Long, The Art of Biblical History (FCI), 201-23.

[13:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”