1 Samuel 16:14

David Appears before Saul

16:14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had turned away from Saul, and an evil spirit ¹  from the Lord tormented him.

1 Samuel 2:23

2:23 He said to them, “Why do you behave in this way? For I hear about these evil things from all these ²  people.

1 Samuel 7:14

7:14 The cities that the Philistines had captured from Israel were returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territory from the control ³  of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.

[16:14]  ¹ tn Or “an injurious spirit”; cf. NLT “a tormenting spirit.” The phrase need not refer to an evil, demonic spirit. The Hebrew word translated “evil” may refer to the character of the spirit or to its effect upon Saul. If the latter, another translation option might be “a mischief-making spirit.”

[2:23]  ² tc For “these” the LXX has “of the Lord” (κυρίου, kuriou), perhaps through the influence of the final phrase of v. 24 (“the people of the Lord”). Somewhat less likely is the view that the MT reading is due to a distorted dittography of the first word of v. 24. The Vulgate lacks the word.

[7:14]  ³ tn Heb “hand.”