1 Samuel 17:50

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 

1 Samuel 17:2

17:2 Saul and the Israelite army ³  assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against ⁴  the Philistines.

1 Samuel 2:18-23

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 descendants ⁵  from this woman to replace the one that she ⁶  dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go to their ⁷  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. ⁸ 

2:22 Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel ⁹  and how they used to have sex with ¹⁰  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 these ¹¹  people.

1 Samuel 17:14

17:14 Now David was the youngest. While the three oldest sons followed Saul,

1 Samuel 17:23

17:23 As he was speaking with them, the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the battle lines of the Philistines. He spoke the way he usually did, ¹²  and David heard it.

Psalms 33:16-17

33:16 No king is delivered by his vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great might.

33:17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory; ¹³ 

despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.

Psalms 73:6-7

73:6 Arrogance is their necklace, ¹⁴ 

and violence their clothing. ¹⁵ 

73:7 Their prosperity causes them to do wrong; ¹⁶ 

their thoughts are sinful. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 147:10-11

147:10 He is not enamored with the strength of a horse,

nor is he impressed by the warrior’s strong legs. ¹⁸ 

147:11 The Lord takes delight in his faithful followers, ¹⁹ 

and in those who wait for his loyal love.

Jeremiah 9:23

9:23 ²⁰ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ²¹ 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ²² 

Jeremiah 46:6

46:6 But even the swiftest cannot get away.

Even the strongest cannot escape. ²³ 

There in the north by the Euphrates River

they stumble and fall in defeat. ²⁴ 

Amos 2:14-16

2:14 Fast runners will find no place to hide; ²⁵ 

strong men will have no strength left; ²⁶ 

warriors will not be able to save their lives.

2:15 Archers ²⁷  will not hold their ground; ²⁸ 

fast runners will not save their lives,

nor will those who ride horses. ²⁹ 

2:16 Bravehearted ³⁰  warriors will run away naked in that day.”

The Lord is speaking!

[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.

[17:2]  ³ tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”

[17:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “to meet.”

[2:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “seed.”

[2:20]  ⁶ tn 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “his.”

[2:21]  ⁸ tn 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[2:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lie with.”

[2:23]  ¹¹ 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.

[17:23]  ¹² tn Heb “according to these words.”

[33:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “a lie [is] the horse for victory.”

[73:6]  ¹⁴ sn Arrogance is their necklace. The metaphor suggests that their arrogance is something the wicked “wear” proudly. It draws attention to them, just as a beautiful necklace does to its owner.

[73:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a garment of violence covers them.” The metaphor suggests that violence is habitual for the wicked. They “wear” it like clothing; when one looks at them, violence is what one sees.

[73:7]  ¹⁶ tc The MT reads “it goes out from fatness their eye,” which might be paraphrased, “their eye protrudes [or “bulges”] because of fatness.” This in turn might refer to their greed; their eyes “bug out” when they see rich food or produce (the noun חֵלֶב [khelev, “fatness”] sometimes refers to such food or produce). However, when used with the verb יָצָא (yatsa’, “go out”) the preposition מִן (“from”) more naturally indicates source. For this reason it is preferable to emend עֵינֵמוֹ (’enemo, “their eye”) to עֲוֹנָמוֹ, (’avonamo, “their sin”) and read, “and their sin proceeds forth from fatness,” that is, their prosperity gives rise to their sinful attitudes. If one follows this textual reading, another interpretive option is to take חֵלֶב (“fatness”) in the sense of “unreceptive, insensitive” (see its use in Ps 17:10). In this case, the sin of the wicked proceeds forth from their spiritual insensitivity.

[73:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the thoughts of [their] heart [i.e., mind] cross over” (i.e., violate God’s moral boundary, see Ps 17:3).

[147:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he does not desire the strength of the horse, he does not take delight in the legs of the man.” Here “the horse” refers to the war horse used by ancient Near Eastern chariot forces, and “the man” refers to the warrior whose muscular legs epitomize his strength.

[147:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[9:23]  ²⁰ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ²¹ tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ²² tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[46:6]  ²³ tn The translation assumes that the adjectives with the article are functioning as superlatives in this context (cf. GKC 431 §133.g). It also assumes that אַל (’al) with the jussive is expressing here an emphatic negative rather than a negative wish (cf. GKC 317 §107.p and compare the usage in Ps 50:3).

[46:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “they stumble and fall.” However, the verbs here are used of a fatal fall, of a violent death in battle (see BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל Qal.2.a), and a literal translation might not be understood by some readers.

[2:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and a place of refuge will perish from the swift.”

[2:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the strong will not increase his strength.”

[2:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the one who holds the bow.”

[2:15]  ²⁸ tn For the idiom of “holding [or “standing”] one’s ground” in battle, there is a similar phrase in Ezek 13:5; also related is the expression “to hold one’s own against” (or “to withstand”) in Judg 2:14; 2 Kgs 10:4; Dan 8:7 (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 97). Other options include “will not endure” or “will not survive.”

[2:15]  ²⁹ tn The last two lines read literally, “The one fast in his feet will not rescue [his life], and the rider of the horse will not rescue his life.” The phrase “his life” does double duty in the parallelism and should be understood in both lines.

[2:16]  ³⁰ tn Or “the most stouthearted” (NAB); NRSV “those who are stout of heart.”