1 Samuel 2:31-34

Context
2:31 In fact, days are coming when I will remove your strength¹ and the strength² of your father’s house. There will not be an old man in your house! 2:32 You will see trouble in my dwelling place!³ Israel will experience blessings,⁴ but there will not be an old man in your⁵ house for all time.⁶ 2:33 Any one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause your⁷ eyes to fail⁸ and will cause you grief.⁹ All of those born to your family¹⁰ will die in the prime of life.¹¹ 2:34 This will be a confirming sign for you that will be fulfilled through your two sons,¹² Hophni and Phinehas: in a single day they both will die!

[2:31] ¹tn Heb “chop off your arm.” The arm here symbolizes strength and activity.

[2:31] ²tn Heb “arm.”

[2:32] ³tn Heb “you will see [the] trouble of [the] dwelling place.” Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun is supplied in the translation (see v. 29).

[2:32] ⁴tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”

[2:32] ⁵tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.

[2:32] ⁶tn Heb “all the days.”

[2:33] ⁷tc The LXX, a Qumran ms, and a few old Latin mss have the third person pronominal suffix “his” here.

[2:33] ⁸tn Heb “to cause your eyes to fail.” Elsewhere this verb, when used of eyes, refers to bloodshot eyes resulting from weeping, prolonged staring, or illness (see Lev 26:16; Pss 69:3; 119:82; Lam 2:11; 4:17).

[2:33] ⁹tn Heb “and to cause your soul grief.”

[2:33] ¹⁰tn Heb “and all the increase of your house.”

[2:33] ¹¹tc The text is difficult. The MT literally says “they will die [as] men.” Apparently the meaning is that they will be cut off in the prime of their life without reaching old age. The LXX and a Qumran ms, however, have the additional word “sword” (“they will die by the sword of men”). This is an easier reading (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), but that fact is not in favor of its originality.

[2:34] ¹²tn Heb “and this to you [is] the sign which will come to both of your sons.”