1 Samuel 18:7

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

“Saul has struck down his thousands,

but David his tens of thousands!”

1 Samuel 13:4

13:4 All Israel heard this message, ¹  “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel is repulsive ²  to the Philistines!” So the people were summoned to join ³  Saul at Gilgal.

1 Samuel 14:14

14:14 In this initial skirmish Jonathan and his armor bearer struck down about twenty men in an area that measured half an acre.

1 Samuel 17:36

17:36 Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. ⁴  For he has defied the armies of the living God!”

1 Samuel 22:19

22:19 As for Nob, the city of the priests, he struck down with the sword men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep – all with the sword.

1 Samuel 29:5

29:5 Isn’t this David, of whom they sang as they danced, ⁵ 

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,

but David his tens of thousands’?”

1 Samuel 6:19

6:19 But the Lord ⁶  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ⁷  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

1 Samuel 21:11

21:11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one that they sing about when they dance, saying,

‘Saul struck down his thousands,

But David his tens of thousands’?”

[13:4]  ¹ tn The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:4]  ² tn Heb “stinks.” The figurative language indicates that Israel had become repulsive to the Philistines.

[13:4]  ³ tn Heb “were summoned after.”

[17:36]  ¹ tc The LXX includes here the following words not found in the MT: “Should I not go and smite him, and remove today reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised one?”

[29:5]  ¹ tn Heb “in dances.”

[6:19]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:19]  ² tc The number 50,070 is surprisingly large, although it finds almost unanimous textual support in the MT and in the ancient versions. Only a few medieval Hebrew mss lack “50,000,” reading simply “70” instead. However, there does not seem to be sufficient external evidence to warrant reading 70 rather than 50,070, although that is done by a number of recent translations (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The present translation (reluctantly) follows the MT and the ancient versions here.