1 Samuel 14:13-15

14:13 Jonathan crawled up on his hands and feet, with his armor bearer following behind him. Jonathan struck down the Philistines, ¹  while his armor bearer came along behind him and killed them. ²  14:14 In this initial skirmish Jonathan and his armor bearer struck down about twenty men in an area that measured half an acre.

14:15 Then fear overwhelmed ³  those who were in the camp, those who were in the field, all the army in the garrison, and the raiding bands. They trembled and the ground shook. This fear was caused by God. ⁴ 

1 Samuel 17:51-52

17:51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath’s ⁵  sword, drew it from its sheath, ⁶  killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran away.

17:52 Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward, shouting a battle cry. ⁷  They chased the Philistines to the valley ⁸  and to the very gates of Ekron. The Philistine corpses lay fallen along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.

1 Samuel 17:2

17:2 Saul and the Israelite army ⁹  assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against ¹⁰  the Philistines.

1 Samuel 8:1-18

Israel Seeks a King

8:1 In his old age Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel. 8:2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judges in Beer Sheba. 8:3 But his sons did not follow ¹¹  his ways. Instead, they made money dishonestly, accepted bribes, and perverted justice. ¹² 

8:4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and approached Samuel at Ramah. 8:5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead ¹³  us, just like all the other nations have.”

8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for ¹⁴  they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 8:7 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do everything the people request of you. ¹⁵  For it is not you that they have rejected, but it is me that they have rejected as their king. 8:8 Just as they have done ¹⁶  from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you. 8:9 So now do as they say. ¹⁷  But seriously warn ¹⁸  them and make them aware of the policies of the king who will rule over them.” ¹⁹ 

8:10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 8:11 He said, “Here are the policies of the king who will rule over you: He will conscript your sons and put them in his chariot forces and in his cavalry; they will run in front of his chariot. 8:12 He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, ²⁰  as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment. 8:13 He will take your daughters to be ointment makers, cooks, and bakers. 8:14 He will take your best fields and vineyards and give them to his own servants. 8:15 He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators ²¹  and his servants. 8:16 He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best cattle and your donkeys, and assign them for his own use. 8:17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants. 8:18 In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.” ²² 

1 Samuel 8:2

8:2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judges in Beer Sheba.

1 Samuel 14:11-14

14:11 When they ²³  made themselves known to the Philistine garrison, the Philistines said, “Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes in which they hid themselves.” 14:12 Then the men of the garrison said to Jonathan and his armor bearer, “Come on up to us so we can teach you a thing or two!” ²⁴  Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up behind me, for the Lord has given ²⁵  them into the hand of Israel!”

14:13 Jonathan crawled up on his hands and feet, with his armor bearer following behind him. Jonathan struck down the Philistines, ²⁶  while his armor bearer came along behind him and killed them. ²⁷  14:14 In this initial skirmish Jonathan and his armor bearer struck down about twenty men in an area that measured half an acre.

1 Samuel 16:1-9

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ²⁸  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ²⁹  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ³⁰ 

16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you ³¹  and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 16:3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you should do. You will anoint for me the one I point out ³²  to you.”

16:4 Samuel did what the Lord told him. ³³  When he arrived in Bethlehem, ³⁴  the elders of the city were afraid to meet him. They ³⁵  said, “Do you come in peace?” 16:5 He replied, “Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” So he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

16:6 When they arrived, Samuel ³⁶  noticed ³⁷  Eliab and said to himself, ³⁸  “Surely, here before the Lord stands his chosen king!” ³⁹  16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by ⁴⁰  his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. ⁴¹  People look on the outward appearance, ⁴²  but the Lord looks at the heart.”

16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. ⁴³  But Samuel ⁴⁴  said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.” 16:9 Then Jesse presented ⁴⁵  Shammah. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”

1 Samuel 20:6-25

20:6 If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go ⁴⁶  to his city Bethlehem, ⁴⁷  for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’ 20:7 If he should then say, ‘That’s fine,’ ⁴⁸  then your servant is safe. But if he becomes very angry, be assured that he has decided to harm me. ⁴⁹  20:8 You must be loyal ⁵⁰  to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. ⁵¹  If I am guilty, ⁵²  you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

20:9 Jonathan said, “Far be it from you to suggest this! If I were at all aware that my father had decided to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?” 20:10 David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” 20:11 Jonathan said to David, “Come on. Let’s go out to the field.”

When the two of them had gone out into the field, 20:12 Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is my witness. ⁵³  I will feel out my father about this time the day after tomorrow. If he is favorably inclined toward David, will I not then send word to you and let you know? ⁵⁴  20:13 But if my father intends to do you harm, may the Lord do all this and more to Jonathan, if I don’t let you know ⁵⁵  and send word to you so you can go safely on your way. ⁵⁶  May the Lord be with you, as he was with my father. 20:14 While I am still alive, extend to me the loyalty of the Lord, or else I will die! 20:15 Don’t ever cut off your loyalty to my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth 20:16 and called David’s enemies to account.” So Jonathan made a covenant ⁵⁷  with the house of David. ⁵⁸  20:17 Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life. ⁵⁹  20:18 Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty. 20:19 On the third day ⁶⁰  you should go down quickly ⁶¹  and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. ⁶²  Stay near the stone Ezel. 20:20 I will shoot three arrows near it, as though I were shooting at a target. 20:21 When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; ⁶³  get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem. 20:22 But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,’ ⁶⁴  get away. For in that case the Lord has sent you away. 20:23 With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the Lord is the witness between us forever!” ⁶⁵ 

20:24 So David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal. 20:25 The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him ⁶⁶  and Abner at his side. ⁶⁷  But David’s place was vacant.

1 Samuel 20:2

20:2 Jonathan ⁶⁸  said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing ⁶⁹  large or small without making me aware of it. ⁷⁰  Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

1 Samuel 1:20-22

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. ⁷¹ 

Hannah Dedicates Samuel to the Lord

1:21 This man Elkanah went up with all his family to make the yearly sacrifice to the Lord and to keep his vow, 1:22 but Hannah did not go up with them. ⁷²  Instead she told her husband, “Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him and appear before the Lord, and he will remain there from then on.”

[14:13]  ¹ tn Heb “and they fell before Jonathan.”

[14:13]  ² tn Heb “and the one carrying his equipment was killing after him.”

[14:15]  ³ tn Heb “fell upon.”

[14:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it was by the fear of God.” The translation understands this to mean that God was the source or cause of the fear experienced by the Philistines. This seems to be the most straightforward reading of the sentence. It is possible, however, that the word “God” functions here simply to intensify the accompanying word “fear,” in which one might translate “a very great fear” (cf. NAB, NRSV). It is clear that on some occasions that the divine name carries such a superlative nuance. For examples see Joüon 2:525 §141.n.

[17:51]  ⁵ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:51]  ⁶ tc Most LXX mss lack the words “drew it from its sheath.”

[17:52]  ⁷ tn Heb “arose and cried out.”

[17:52]  ⁸ tc Most of the LXX ms tradition has here “Gath.”

[17:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”

[17:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to meet.”

[8:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “walk in” (also in v. 5).

[8:3]  ¹² tn Heb “and they turned aside after unjust gain and took bribes and perverted justice.”

[8:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).

[8:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “when.”

[8:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Listen to the voice of the people, to all which they say to you.”

[8:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “according to all the deeds which they have done.”

[8:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and now, listen to their voice.”

[8:9]  ¹⁸ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the imperative for emphasis.

[8:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and tell them the manner of the king who will rule over them.”

[8:12]  ²⁰ tc The numbers of v. 12 are confused in the Greek and Syriac versions. For “fifties” the LXX has “hundreds.” The Syriac Peshitta has “heads of thousands and heads of hundreds and heads of fifties and heads of tens,” perhaps reflecting influence from Deut 1:15.

[8:15]  ²¹ tn Or “eunuchs” (so NAB); NIV “officials”; KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT “officers.”

[8:18]  ²² tc The LXX adds “because you have chosen for yourselves a king.”

[14:11]  ²³ tn Heb “the two of them.”

[14:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a thing.”

[14:12]  ²⁵ tn The perfect verbal form is used rhetorically here to express Jonathan’s certitude. As far as he is concerned, the victory is as good as won and can be described as such.

[14:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and they fell before Jonathan.”

[14:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and the one carrying his equipment was killing after him.”

[16:1]  ²⁸ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ²⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

[16:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “in your hand.”

[16:3]  ³² tn Heb “say”; KJV, NRSV “name”; NIV “indicate.”

[16:4]  ³³ tn Heb “said.”

[16:4]  ³⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:4]  ³⁵ tc In the MT the verb is singular (“he said”), but the translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss and ancient versions in reading the plural (“they said”).

[16:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:6]  ³⁷ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “said”; the words “to himself” are implied, given the secrecy surrounding Samuel’s mission to Bethlehem (v. 2).

[16:6]  ³⁹ tn Heb “his anointed one.”

[16:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “don’t look toward.”

[16:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “for not that which the man sees.” The translation follows the LXX, which reads, “for not as man sees does God see.” The MT has suffered from homoioteleuton or homoioarcton. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 274.

[16:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “to the eyes.”

[16:8]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and caused him to pass before.”

[16:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “he” (also in v. 9); the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “caused to pass by.”

[20:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “to run.”

[20:6]  ⁴⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[20:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “good.”

[20:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “know that the evil is completed from with him.”

[20:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “and you must do loyalty.”

[20:8]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “for into a covenant of the Lord you have brought your servant with you.”

[20:8]  ⁵² tn Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”

[20:12]  ⁵³ tc The Hebrew text has simply “the Lord God of Israel.” On the basis of the Syriac version, many reconstruct the text to read “[is] my witness,” which may have fallen out of the text by homoioarcton (an error which is entirely possible if עֵד, ’ed, “witness,” immediately followed ַָדוִד, “David,” in the original text).

[20:12]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “and uncover your ear.”

[20:13]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “uncover your ear.”

[20:13]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “in peace.”

[20:16]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “cut.” The object of the verb (“covenant”) must be supplied.

[20:16]  ⁵⁸ tn The word order is different in the Hebrew text, which reads “and Jonathan cut with the house of David, and the Lord will seek from the hand of the enemies of David.” The translation assumes that the main clauses of the verse have been accidentally transposed in the course of transmission. The first part of the verse (as it stands in MT) belongs with v. 17, while the second part of the verse actually continues v. 15.

[20:17]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”

[20:19]  ⁶⁰ tc Heb “you will do [something] a third time.” The translation assumes an emendation of the verb from שִׁלַּשְׁתָּ (shillashta, “to do a third time”) to שִׁלִּישִׁית (shillishit, “[on the] third [day]”).

[20:19]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “you must go down greatly.” See Judg 19:11 for the same idiom.

[20:19]  ⁶² tn Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2.

[20:21]  ⁶³ tn Heb “from you and here.”

[20:22]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “from you and onward.”

[20:23]  ⁶⁵ tc Heb “the Lord [is] between me and between you forever.” The translation assumes that the original text read עֵד עַד־עוֹלָם (’ed ’ad-’olam), “a witness forever,” with the noun “a witness” accidentally falling out of the text by haplography. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.

[20:25]  ⁶⁶ tc Heb “and Jonathan arose.” Instead of MT’s וַיָּקָם (vayyaqam, “and he arose”; from the hollow verbal root קוּם, qum), the translation assumes a reading וַיִּקַדֵּם (vayyiqaddem, “and he was in front of”; from the verbal root קדם, qdm). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.

[20:25]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “and Abner sat at the side of Saul.”

[20:2]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ⁶⁹ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).

[20:2]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”

[1:20]  ⁷¹ 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.

[1:22]  ⁷² tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive here. The words “with them” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.