1 Samuel 2:18

2:18 Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord. The boy was dressed in a linen ephod.

1 Samuel 2:26

2:26 Now the boy Samuel was growing up and finding favor both with the Lord and with people.

1 Samuel 3:1

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ¹  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 3:21

3:21 Then the Lord again appeared in Shiloh, for it was in Shiloh that the Lord had revealed himself to Samuel ²  through the word of the Lord. ³ 

1 Samuel 16:11-12

16:11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Is that all of the young men?” Jesse ⁴  replied, “There is still the youngest one, but he’s taking care of the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we cannot turn our attention to other things until he comes here.”

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ⁵  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

1 Samuel 16:1

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ⁶  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ⁷  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ⁸ 

1 Samuel 3:6-11

3:6 The Lord again called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli ⁹  said, “I didn’t call you, my son. Go back and lie down.”

3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord; the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 3:8 Then the Lord called Samuel a third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me!” Eli then realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy. 3:9 So Eli said to Samuel, “Go back and lie down. When he calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place.

3:10 Then the Lord came and stood nearby, calling as he had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!” 3:11 The Lord said to Samuel, “Look! I am about to do something in Israel; ¹⁰  when anyone hears about it, both of his ears will tingle.

1 Samuel 18:12

18:12 So Saul feared David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.

1 Samuel 18:2

18:2 Saul retained David ¹¹  on that day and did not allow him to return to his father’s house.

1 Samuel 1:3

1:3 Year after year ¹²  this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord’s priests.

Ecclesiastes 12:1

Fear God Now Because Old Age and Death Come Quickly

12:1 So remember ¹³  your Creator in the days of your youth –

before ¹⁴  the difficult ¹⁵  days come,

and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

Luke 1:15

1:15 for he will be great in the sight of ¹⁶  the Lord. He ¹⁷  must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. ¹⁸ 

Luke 1:2

1:2 like the accounts ¹⁹  passed on ²⁰  to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word ²¹  from the beginning. ²² 

Luke 3:15

3:15 While the people were filled with anticipation ²³  and they all wondered ²⁴  whether perhaps John ²⁵  could be the Christ, ²⁶ 

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “before Eli.”

[3:21]  ² tc The LXX has a lengthy addition here: “And Samuel was acknowledged to be a prophet of the Lord in all Israel, from one end to the other. Eli was very old and, as for his sons, their way kept getting worse and worse before the Lord.” The Hebraic nature of the Greek syntax used here suggests that the LXX translator was accurately rendering a Hebrew variant and not simply expanding the text on his own initiative.

[3:21]  ³ tn The chapter division at this point is inappropriate. 1 Sam 4:1a is best understood as the conclusion to chap. 3 rather than the beginning of chap. 4.

[16:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jesse) has been specified in the translation both here and in v. 12 for clarity.

[16:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[16:1]  ⁶ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

[3:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:11]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds “so that” here, formally connecting this clause with the next.

[18:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ¹² tn Heb “from days to days.”

[12:1]  ¹³ tn The imperative זְכֹר (zekhor, “Remember!”) is a figurative expression (metonymy of association) for obeying God and acknowledging his lordship over one’s life (e.g., Num 15:40; Deut 8:18; Pss 42:6-7; 63:6-8; 78:42; 103:18; 106:7; 119:52, 55; Jer 51:50; Ezek 20:43; Jonah 2:7; Mal 4:4). The exhortation to fear God and obey his commands in 12:13-14 spells out what it means to “remember” God.

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn The temporal adjective עַד (’ad, “before”) appears three times in 12:1-7 (vv. 1b, 2a, 6a). Likewise, the temporal preposition בְּ (bet, “when”) is repeated (vv. 3a, 4b). These seven verses comprise one long sentence in Hebrew: The main clause is 12:1a (“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth”), while 12:1b-7 consists of five subordinate temporal clauses (“before…before…when…when…before…”).

[12:1]  ¹⁵ tn The adjective רָעָה (ra’ah, “evil”) does not refer here to ethical evil, but to physical difficulty, injury, pain, deprivation and suffering (e.g., Deut 31:17, 21; 32:23; 1 Sam 10:19; Neh 1:3; 2:17; Pss 34:20; 40:13; 88:4; 107:26; Eccl 11:10; Jer 2:27; Lam 3:38); see HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4.b; BDB 949 s.v. רָעָה 2.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “before.”

[1:15]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.

[1:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “even as”; this compares the recorded tradition of 1:1 with the original eyewitness tradition of 1:2.

[1:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “delivered.”

[1:2]  ²¹ sn The phrase eyewitnesses and servants of the word refers to a single group of people who faithfully passed on the accounts about Jesus. The language about delivery (passed on) points to accounts faithfully passed on to the early church.

[1:2]  ²² tn Grk “like the accounts those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word passed on to us.” The location of “in the beginning” in the Greek shows that the tradition is rooted in those who were with Jesus from the start.

[3:15]  ²³ tn Or “with expectation.” The participle προσδοκῶντος (prosdokwnto") is taken temporally.

[3:15]  ²⁴ tn Grk “pondered in their hearts.”

[3:15]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in their hearts concerning John, (whether) perhaps he might be the Christ.” The translation simplifies the style here.

[3:15]  ²⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”