1 Samuel 2:3-4

2:3 Don’t keep speaking so arrogantly, ¹ 

letting proud talk come out of your mouth!

For the Lord is a God who knows;

he ²  evaluates what people do.

2:4 The bows of warriors are shattered,

but those who stumble find their strength reinforced.

1 Samuel 2:9-10

2:9 He watches over ³  his holy ones, ⁴ 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

2:10 The Lord shatters ⁵  his adversaries; ⁶ 

he thunders against them from ⁷  the heavens.

The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.

He will strengthen ⁸  his king

and exalt the power ⁹  of his anointed one.” ¹⁰ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “proudly, proudly.” If MT is original, the repetition of the word is for emphasis, stressing the arrogance of those addressed. However, a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts and some other textual witnesses do not reflect the repetition, suggesting that the Hebrew text may be dittographic.

[2:3]  ² tc The MT (Qere) reads “and by him actions are weighed.” The translation assumes that reading of the Qere וְלוֹ (vÿlo, “and by him”), which is supported by many medieval Hebrew mss, is correct, rather than the reading of the Kethib וְלוֹא (vÿlo’, “and not”).

[2:9]  ³ tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:9]  ⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.

[2:10]  ⁵ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this line and in the next two lines are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:10]  ⁶ tc The present translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate in reading the plural (“his adversaries,” similarly many other English versions) rather than the singular (“his adversary”) of the Kethib.

[2:10]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew preposition here has the sense of “from within.”

[2:10]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this and the next line are understood as indicating what is anticipated and translated with the future tense, because at the time of Hannah’s prayer Israel did not yet have a king.

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “the horn,” here a metaphor for power or strength. Cf. NCV “make his appointed king strong”; NLT “increases the might of his anointed one.”

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX greatly expands v. 10 with an addition that seems to be taken from Jer 9:23-24.