1 Samuel 15:26-31

15:26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel!”

15:27 When Samuel turned to leave, Saul ¹  grabbed the edge of his robe and it tore. 15:28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to one of your colleagues who is better than you! 15:29 The Preeminent One ²  of Israel does not go back on his word ³  or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.” ⁴  15:30 Saul ⁵  again replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Go back with me so I may worship the Lord your God.” 15:31 So Samuel followed Saul back, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

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. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 14:5-18

14:5 The cliff to the north was closer to Micmash, the one to the south closer to Geba.

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 ⁷  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. ⁸  Do as you’re inclined. I’m with you all the way!” ⁹ 

14:8 Jonathan replied, “All right! ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  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 ¹²  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!” ¹³  Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up behind me, for the Lord has given ¹⁴  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, ¹⁵  while his armor bearer came along behind him and killed them. ¹⁶  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 ¹⁷  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. ¹⁸ 

14:16 Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin ¹⁹  looked on ²⁰  as the crowd of soldiers seemed to melt away first in one direction and then in another. ²¹  14:17 So Saul said to the army that was with him, “Muster the troops and see who is no longer with us.” When they mustered the troops, ²²  Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there. 14:18 So Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ephod,” ²³  for he was at that time wearing the ephod. ²⁴ 

1 Samuel 21:1

21:1 (21:2) David went to Ahimelech the priest in Nob. Ahimelech was shaking with fear when he met ²⁵  David, and said to him, “Why are you by yourself with no one accompanying you?”

Jeremiah 1:18

1:18 I, the Lord, ²⁶  hereby promise to make you ²⁷  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 ²⁸  the land, including the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and all the people of the land.

Daniel 5:17-23

Daniel Interprets the Handwriting on the Wall

5:17 But Daniel replied to the king, “Keep your gifts, and give your rewards to someone else! However, I will read the writing for the king and make known its ²⁹  interpretation. 5:18 As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ³⁰  5:19 Due to the greatness that he bestowed on him, all peoples, nations, and language groups were trembling with fear ³¹  before him. He killed whom he wished, he spared ³²  whom he wished, he exalted whom he wished, and he brought low whom he wished. 5:20 And when his mind ³³  became arrogant ³⁴  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him. 5:21 He was driven from human society, his mind ³⁵  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ³⁶  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

5:22 “But you, his son ³⁷  Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, ³⁸  although you knew all this. 5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ³⁹  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ⁴⁰  your very breath and all your ways!

Matthew 22:16

22:16 They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, ⁴¹  saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ⁴²  You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality. ⁴³ 

[15:27]  ¹ tn Heb “he,” but Saul is clearly the referent. A Qumran ms and the LXX include the name “Saul” here.

[15:29]  ² tn Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord.

[15:29]  ³ tn Or perhaps “does not lie.”

[15:29]  ⁴ sn This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Change His Mind?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

[15:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the voice of the words of the Lord” (so KJV).

[14:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “act.”

[14:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “in your heart.”

[14:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “Look, I am with you, according to your heart.” See the note at 13:14.

[14:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Look!”

[14:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stand.”

[14:11]  ¹² tn Heb “the two of them.”

[14:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “a thing.”

[14:12]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and they fell before Jonathan.”

[14:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and the one carrying his equipment was killing after him.”

[14:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fell upon.”

[14:15]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “at Gibeah of Benjamin.” The words “in the territory” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “saw, and look!”

[14:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “the crowd melted and went, even here.”

[14:17]  ²² tn Heb “and they mustered the troops, and look!”

[14:18]  ²³ tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v.19. This reading is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, TEV, NLT).

[14:18]  ²⁴ tc Heb “for the ark of God was in that day, and the sons of Israel.” The translation follows the text of some Greek manuscripts. See the previous note.

[21:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “trembled to meet.”

[1:18]  ²⁶ tn See the note on “Jeremiah” at the beginning of v. 17.

[1:18]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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.

[5:17]  ²⁹ tn Or “the.”

[5:18]  ³⁰ tn Or “royal greatness and majestic honor,” if the four terms are understood as a double hendiadys.

[5:19]  ³¹ tn Aram “were trembling and fearing.” This can be treated as a hendiadys, “were trembling with fear.”

[5:19]  ³² tn Aram “let live.” This Aramaic form is the aphel participle of חַיָה(khayah, “to live”). Theodotion and the Vulgate mistakenly take the form to be from מְחָא (mÿkha’, “to smite”).

[5:20]  ³³ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:20]  ³⁴ sn The point of describing Nebuchadnezzar as arrogant is that he had usurped divine prerogatives, and because of his immense arrogance God had dealt decisively with him.

[5:21]  ³⁵ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:21]  ³⁶ tn Aram “his dwelling.”

[5:22]  ³⁷ tn Or “descendant”; or “successor.”

[5:22]  ³⁸ tn Aram “your heart.”

[5:23]  ³⁹ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ⁴⁰ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”

[22:16]  ⁴¹ sn The Herodians are mentioned in the NT only once in Matt (22:16 = Mark 12:13) and twice in Mark (3:6; 12:13; some mss also read “Herodians” instead of “Herod” in Mark 8:15). It is generally assumed that as a group the Herodians were Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (or of Herod Antipas in particular). In every instance they are linked with the Pharisees. This probably reflects agreement regarding political objectives (nationalism as opposed to submission to the yoke of Roman oppression) rather than philosophy or religious beliefs.

[22:16]  ⁴² sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

[22:16]  ⁴³ tn Grk “And it is not a concern to you about anyone because you do not see the face of men.”