1 Samuel 18:21-26

18:21 Saul said, “I will give her to him so that she may become a snare to him and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Today is the second time for you to become my son-in-law.” ¹ 

18:22 Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.” 18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately ²  to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”

18:24 When Saul’s servants reported what David had said, 18:25 Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his ³  enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)

18:26 So his servants told David these things and David agreed ⁴  to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired ⁵ 

1 Samuel 23:21-22

23:21 Saul replied, “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me. 23:22 Go and make further arrangements. Determine precisely ⁶  where he is ⁷  and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning.

1 Samuel 23:2

23:2 So David asked the Lord, “Should I go and strike down these Philistines?” The Lord said to David, “Go, strike down the Philistines and deliver Keilah.”

1 Samuel 15:5

15:5 Saul proceeded to the city ⁸  of Amalek, where he set an ambush ⁹  in the wadi. ¹⁰ 

[18:21]  ¹ tc The final sentence of v. 21 is absent in most LXX mss.

[18:23]  ² tn Heb “in the ears of.”

[18:25]  ³ tn Heb “the king’s.”

[18:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it was acceptable in the eyes of David.”

[18:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “the days were not fulfilled.”

[23:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “know and see.” The expression is a hendiadys. See also v. 23.

[23:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “his place where his foot is.”

[15:5]  ⁸ tc The LXX has the plural here, “cities.”

[15:5]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the LXX and Vulgate which assume a reading וַיָּאָרֶב (vayya’arev, “and he set an ambush,” from the root ארב [’rv] with quiescence of alef) rather than the MT, which has וַיָּרֶב (vayyareb, “and he contended,” from the root ריב [ryv]).

[15:5]  ¹⁰ tn That is, “the dry stream bed.”