1 Samuel 16:7

Context
16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by¹ his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do.² People look on the outward appearance,³ but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:2

Context

16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you⁴ and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

1 Samuel 1:23

Context

1:23 So her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what you think best.⁵ Stay until you have weaned him. May the Lord fulfill his promise.”⁶

So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

1 Samuel 2:18-23

Context

2:18 Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord. The boy was dressed in a linen ephod. 2:19 His mother used to make him a small robe and bring it up to him at regular intervals when she would go up with her husband to make the annual sacrifice. 2:20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord raise up for you descendants⁷ from this woman to replace the one that she⁸ dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go to their⁹ home. 2:21 So the Lord graciously attended to Hannah, and she was able to conceive and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel grew up at the Lord’s sanctuary.¹⁰

2:22 Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel¹¹ and how they used to have sex with¹² the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 2:23 He said to them, “Why do you behave in this way? For I hear about these evil things from all these¹³ people.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

Context

Wisdom Cannot Protect against Seemingly Chance Events

9:11 Again,¹⁴ I observed this on the earth:¹⁵

the race is not always¹⁶ won by the swiftest,

the battle is not always won by the strongest;

prosperity¹⁷ does not always belong to those who are the wisest,

wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning,

nor does success¹⁸ always come to those with the most knowledge –

for time and chance may overcome¹⁹ them all.

[16:7] ¹tn Heb “don’t look toward.”

[16:7] ²tn 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] ³tn Heb “to the eyes.”

[16:2] ⁴tn Heb “in your hand.”

[1:23] ⁵tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”

[1:23] ⁶tn Heb “establish his word.” This apparently refers to the promise inherent in Eli’s priestly blessing (see v. 17).

[2:20] ⁷tn Heb “seed.”

[2:20] ⁸tn The MT has a masculine verb here, but in light of the context the reference must be to Hannah. It is possible that the text of the MT is incorrect here (cf. the ancient versions), in which case the text should be changed to read either a passive participle or better, the third feminine singular of the verb. If the MT is correct here, perhaps the masculine is to be understood in a nonspecific and impersonal way, allowing for a feminine antecedent. In any case, the syntax of the MT is unusual here.

[2:20] ⁹tn Heb “his.”

[2:21] ¹⁰tn Heb “with the Lord.” Cf. NAB, TEV “in the service of the Lord”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “in the presence of the Lord”; CEV “at the Lord’s house in Shiloh.”

[2:22] ¹¹tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[2:22] ¹²tn Heb “lie with.”

[2:23] ¹³tc 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.

[9:11] ¹⁴tn Heb “I returned and.” In the Hebrew idiom, “to return and do” means “to do again.”

[9:11] ¹⁵tn Heb “under the sun.”

[9:11] ¹⁶tn The term “always” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation (five times in this verse) for clarity.

[9:11] ¹⁷tn Heb “bread.”

[9:11] ¹⁸tn Heb “favor.”

[9:11] ¹⁹tn Heb “happen to.”