1 Samuel 17:49-51

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 ¹ 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. ²  17:51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath’s ³  sword, drew it from its sheath, ⁴  killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran away.

1 Samuel 23:5

23:5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines. He took away their cattle and thoroughly defeated them. ⁵  David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

1 Samuel 30:17

30:17 But David struck them down from twilight until the following evening. None of them escaped, with the exception of four hundred young men who got away on camels. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 30:2

30:2 They took captive the women who were in it, from the youngest to the oldest, but they did not kill anyone. They simply carried them off and went on their way.

1 Samuel 5:1

The Ark Causes Trouble for the Philistines

5:1 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

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 ⁷  his ways. Instead, they made money dishonestly, accepted bribes, and perverted justice. ⁸ 

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 ⁹  us, just like all the other nations have.”

8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for ¹⁰  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. ¹¹  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 ¹²  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. ¹³  But seriously warn ¹⁴  them and make them aware of the policies of the king who will rule over them.” ¹⁵ 

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, ¹⁶  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 ¹⁷  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.” ¹⁸ 

1 Samuel 10:1-19

Samuel Anoints Saul

10:1 Then Samuel took a small container of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s ¹⁹  head. Samuel ²⁰  kissed him and said, “The Lord has chosen you ²¹  to lead his people Israel! You will rule over the Lord’s people and you will deliver them from the power of the enemies who surround them. This will be your sign that the Lord has chosen ²²  you as leader over his inheritance. ²³  10:2 When you leave me today, you will find two men near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah on Benjamin’s border. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you have gone looking for have been found. Your father is no longer concerned about the donkeys but has become anxious about you two! ²⁴  He is asking, “What should I do about my son?”’

10:3 “As you continue on from there, you will come to the tall tree of Tabor. At that point three men who are going up to God at Bethel ²⁵  will meet you. One of them will be carrying three young goats, one of them will be carrying three round loaves of bread, and one of them will be carrying a container of wine. 10:4 They will ask you how you’re doing and will give you two loaves of bread. You will accept them. 10:5 Afterward you will go to Gibeah of God, where there are Philistine officials. ²⁶  When you enter the town, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place. They will have harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying. 10:6 Then the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.

10:7 “When these signs have taken place, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God will be with you. ²⁷  10:8 You will go down to Gilgal before me. I am going to join you there to offer burnt offerings and to make peace offerings. You should wait for seven days, until I arrive and tell you what to do.”

Saul Becomes King

10:9 As Saul ²⁸  turned ²⁹  to leave Samuel, God changed his inmost person. ³⁰  All these signs happened on that very day. 10:10 When Saul and his servant ³¹  arrived at Gibeah, a company of prophets was coming out to meet him. Then the spirit of God rushed upon Saul ³²  and he prophesied among them. 10:11 When everyone who had known him previously saw him prophesying with the prophets, the people all asked one another, “What on earth has happened to the son of Kish? Does even Saul belong with the prophets?”

10:12 A man who was from there replied, “And who is their father?” Therefore this became a proverb: “Is even Saul among the prophets?” 10:13 When Saul ³³  had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

10:14 Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?” Saul ³⁴  replied, “To look for the donkeys. But when we realized they were lost, ³⁵  we went to Samuel.” 10:15 Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.” ³⁶  10:16 Saul said to his uncle, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul ³⁷  did not tell him what Samuel had said about the matter of kingship.

10:17 Then Samuel called the people together before the Lord at Mizpah. 10:18 He said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt and I delivered you from the power ³⁸  of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you. 10:19 But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No! ³⁹  Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”

1 Samuel 18:7-8

18:7 The women who were playing the music sang,

“Saul has struck down his thousands,

but David his tens of thousands!”

18:8 This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, ⁴⁰  “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?”

1 Samuel 18:2

18:2 Saul retained David ⁴¹  on that day and did not allow him to return to his father’s house.

1 Samuel 21:15--22:1

21:15 Do I have a shortage of fools, that you have brought me this man to display his insanity in front of me? Should this man enter my house?”

David Goes to Adullam and Mizpah

22:1 So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family ⁴²  learned about it, they went down there to him.

[17:50]  ¹ tc Most LXX mss lack v. 50.

[17:50]  ² tn Verse 50 is a summary statement; v. 51 gives a more detailed account of how David killed the Philistine.

[17:51]  ³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:51]  ⁴ tc Most LXX mss lack the words “drew it from its sheath.”

[23:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and struck them down with a great blow.”

[30:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “who rode on camels and fled.”

[8:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “walk in” (also in v. 5).

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

[8:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).

[8:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “when.”

[8:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Listen to the voice of the people, to all which they say to you.”

[8:8]  ¹² tn Heb “according to all the deeds which they have done.”

[8:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “and now, listen to their voice.”

[8:9]  ¹⁴ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the imperative for emphasis.

[8:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and tell them the manner of the king who will rule over them.”

[8:12]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Or “eunuchs” (so NAB); NIV “officials”; KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT “officers.”

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

[10:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you?” The question draws attention to the fact and is a rhetorical way of affirming the Lord’s choice of Saul. The translation reflects the rhetorical force of the question.

[10:1]  ²² tn That is, “anointed.”

[10:1]  ²³ tc The MT reads simply “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you over his inheritance for a leader?” The translation follows the LXX. The MT apparently suffers from parablepsis, whereby a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the expression “the Lord has anointed you” to the second occurrence of this expression at the end of v. 1. This mistake caused the accidental omission of the intervening material in the LXX, which appears to preserve the original Hebrew text here.

[10:2]  ²⁴ sn In the Hebrew text the pronoun you is plural, suggesting that Saul’s father was concerned about his son and the servant who accompanied him.

[10:3]  ²⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[10:5]  ²⁶ tn Or “sentries.” Some translate “outpost” (NIV) or “garrison” (NAB, NRSV, NLT) here (see 1 Sam 13:3). The noun is plural in the Hebrew text, but the LXX and other ancient witnesses read a singular noun here.

[10:7]  ²⁷ sn In light of Saul’s commission to be Israel’s deliverer (see v. 1), it is likely that some type of military action against the Philistines (see v.5) is implied.

[10:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “turned his shoulder.”

[10:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “God turned for him another heart”; NAB, NRSV “gave him another heart”; NIV, NCV “changed Saul’s heart”; TEV “gave Saul a new nature”; CEV “made Saul feel like a different person.”

[10:10]  ³¹ tc Two medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta have the singular “he” (in which case the referent would be Saul alone).

[10:10]  ³² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:13]  ³³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “And we saw that they were not.”

[10:15]  ³⁶ tc In the LXX and Vulgate the pronoun “you” is singular, referring specifically to Saul. In the MT it is plural, including Saul’s servant as well.

[10:16]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “hand” (also later in this verse).

[10:19]  ³⁹ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading לֹא (lo’, “not”) rather than the MT לוֹ (lo; “to him”). Some witnesses combine the variants, resulting in a conflated text. For example, a few medieval Hebrew mss have לֹא לוֹ (lo lo’; “to him, ‘No.’”). A few others have לֹא לִי (li lo’; “to me, ‘No.’”).

[18:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “said.” So also in vv. 11, 17.

[18:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “house.”