1 Samuel 14:6-16

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 ¹  for us. Nothing can prevent the Lord from delivering, whether by many or by a few.” 14:7 His armor bearer said to him, “Do everything that is on your mind. ²  Do as you’re inclined. I’m with you all the way!” ³ 

14:8 Jonathan replied, “All right! ⁴  We’ll go over to these men and fight them. 14:9 If they say to us, ‘Stay put until we approach you,’ we will stay ⁵  right there and not go up to them. 14:10 But if they say, ‘Come up against us,’ we will go up. For in that case the Lord has given them into our hand – it will be a sign to us.”

14:11 When they ⁶  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!” ⁷  Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up behind me, for the Lord has given ⁸  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, ⁹  while his armor bearer came along behind him and killed them. ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  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. ¹² 

14:16 Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin ¹³  looked on ¹⁴  as the crowd of soldiers seemed to melt away first in one direction and then in another. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 14:20-23

14:20 Saul and all the army that was with him assembled and marched into battle, where they found ¹⁶  the Philistines in total panic killing one another with their swords. ¹⁷  14:21 The Hebrews who had earlier gone over to the Philistine side ¹⁸  joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 14:22 When all the Israelites who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, they too pursued them in battle. 14:23 So the Lord delivered Israel that day, and the battle shifted over to Beth Aven. ¹⁹ 

1 Samuel 17:49-53

17:49 David reached his hand into the bag and took out a stone. He slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank deeply into his forehead, and he fell down with his face to the ground.

17:50 ²⁰ David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. ²¹  17:51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath’s ²²  sword, drew it from its sheath, ²³  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. ²⁴  They chased the Philistines to the valley ²⁵  and to the very gates of Ekron. The Philistine corpses lay fallen along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 17:53 When the Israelites returned from their hot pursuit of the Philistines, they looted their camp.

1 Samuel 28:3-5

28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. ²⁶  In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums ²⁷  and magicians ²⁸  from the land. 28:4 The Philistines assembled; they came and camped at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and camped at Gilboa. 28:5 When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was absolutely terrified. ²⁹ 

1 Samuel 31:1-7

The Death of Saul

31:1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 31:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels ³⁰  of Saul and his sons. They ³¹  struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 31:3 Saul himself was in the thick of the battle; ³²  the archers ³³  spotted him and wounded him severely.

31:4 Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. 31:5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him. 31:6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day.

31:7 When the men of Israel who were in the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

[14:6]  ¹ tn Heb “act.”

[14:7]  ² tn Heb “in your heart.”

[14:7]  ³ tn Heb “Look, I am with you, according to your heart.” See the note at 13:14.

[14:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “Look!”

[14:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “stand.”

[14:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “the two of them.”

[14:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “a thing.”

[14:12]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they fell before Jonathan.”

[14:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the one carrying his equipment was killing after him.”

[14:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fell upon.”

[14:15]  ¹² 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.

[14:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “at Gibeah of Benjamin.” The words “in the territory” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “saw, and look!”

[14:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the crowd melted and went, even here.”

[14:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and look, there was”

[14:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the sword of a man against his companion, a very great panic.”

[14:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the Hebrews were to the Philistines formerly, who went up with them in the camp all around.”

[14:23]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX includes the following words: “And all the people were with Saul, about ten thousand men. And the battle extended to the entire city on mount Ephraim.”

[17:50]  ²⁰ tc Most LXX mss lack v. 50.

[17:50]  ²¹ tn Verse 50 is a summary statement; v. 51 gives a more detailed account of how David killed the Philistine.

[17:51]  ²² tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:51]  ²³ tc Most LXX mss lack the words “drew it from its sheath.”

[17:52]  ²⁴ tn Heb “arose and cried out.”

[17:52]  ²⁵ tc Most of the LXX ms tradition has here “Gath.”

[28:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”

[28:3]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “mediums” actually refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits (see 2 Kgs 21:6). In v. 7 the witch of Endor is called the owner of a ritual pit. See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401. Here the term refers by metonymy to the owner of such a pit (see H. A. Hoffner, TDOT 1:133).

[28:3]  ²⁸ sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.

[28:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he was afraid, and his heart was very terrified.”

[31:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “stuck close after.”

[31:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “the Philistines.”

[31:3]  ³² tn Heb “and the battle was heavy against Saul.”

[31:3]  ³³ tn Heb “the shooters, men with the bow.”