1 Samuel 2:35

2:35 Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a secure dynasty ¹  and he will serve my chosen one for all time. ² 

1 Samuel 25:28

25:28 Please forgive the sin of your servant, for the Lord will certainly establish the house of my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord. May no evil be found in you all your days!

1 Samuel 25:2

David Marries Abigail the Widow of Nabal

25:2 There was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. This man was very wealthy; ³  he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

1 Samuel 7:11-13

7:11 Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.

7:12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. ⁴  He named it Ebenezer, ⁵  saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.” 7:13 So the Philistines were defeated; they did not invade Israel again. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

1 Samuel 7:1

7:1 Then the people ⁶  of Kiriath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord; they brought it to the house of Abinadab located on the hill. They consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord.

1 Samuel 7:1

7:1 Then the people ⁷  of Kiriath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord; they brought it to the house of Abinadab located on the hill. They consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord.

1 Samuel 2:24

2:24 This ought not to be, ⁸  my sons! For the report that I hear circulating among the Lord’s people is not good.

1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ⁹ Nahash ¹⁰  the Ammonite marched ¹¹  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

Psalms 37:3

37:3 Trust in the Lord and do what is right!

Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! ¹² 

Psalms 127:1

Psalm 127 ¹³ 

A song of ascents, ¹⁴  by Solomon.

127:1 If the Lord does not build a house, ¹⁵ 

then those who build it work in vain.

If the Lord does not guard a city, ¹⁶ 

then the watchman stands guard in vain.

Psalms 127:3

127:3 Yes, ¹⁷  sons ¹⁸  are a gift from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb is a reward.

Proverbs 24:3

24:3 By ¹⁹  wisdom a house is built, ²⁰ 

and through understanding it is established;

Ecclesiastes 8:12

8:12 Even though a sinner might commit a hundred crimes ²¹  and still live a long time, ²² 

yet I know that it will go well with God-fearing people ²³  – for they stand in fear ²⁴  before him.

Jeremiah 35:2

35:2 “Go to the Rechabite community. ²⁵  Invite them to come into one of the side rooms ²⁶  of the Lord’s temple and offer them some wine to drink.”

[2:35]  ¹ tn Heb “house.”

[2:35]  ² tn Heb “and he will walk about before my anointed one all the days.”

[25:2]  ³ tn Heb “great.”

[7:12]  ⁴ tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”

[7:12]  ⁵ sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.

[7:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “men.”

[7:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “men.”

[2:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “no.”

[11:1]  ⁹ tc 4QSam^a and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.

[11:1]  ¹⁰ sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

[11:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”

[37:3]  ¹² tn Heb “tend integrity.” The verb רָעָה (ra’ah, “tend, shepherd”) is probably used here in the sense of “watch over, guard.” The noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness, honesty, integrity”) is understood as the direct object of the verb, though it could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “[feed] securely,” if the audience is likened to a flock of sheep.

[127:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 127. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist teaches that one does not find security by one’s own efforts, for God alone gives stability and security.

[127:1]  ¹⁴ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[127:1]  ¹⁵ sn The expression build a house may have a double meaning here. It may refer on the surface level to a literal physical structure in which a family lives, but at a deeper, metaphorical level it refers to building, perpetuating, and maintaining a family line. See Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; 1 Sam 2:35; 2 Sam 7:27; 1 Kgs 11:38; 1 Chr 17:10, 25. Having a family line provided security in ancient Israel.

[127:1]  ¹⁶ sn The city symbolizes community security, which is the necessary framework for family security.

[127:3]  ¹⁷ tn or “look.”

[127:3]  ¹⁸ tn Some prefer to translate this term with the gender neutral “children,” but “sons” are plainly in view here, as the following verses make clear. Daughters are certainly wonderful additions to a family, but in ancient Israelite culture sons were the “arrows” that gave a man security in his old age, for they could defend the family interests at the city gate, where the legal and economic issues of the community were settled.

[24:3]  ¹⁹ tn The preposition בְּ (bet, “by; through”) in these two lines indicates means.

[24:3]  ²⁰ sn The twentieth saying, vv. 3-4, concerns the use of wisdom for domestic enterprises. In Prov 9:1 wisdom was personified as a woman who builds a house; but here the emphasis is primarily on the building – it is a sign of security and prosperity (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 442). One could still make a secondary application from this line for a household or “family” (cf. NCV, which sees this as a reference to the family).

[8:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “does evil one hundred [times].”

[8:12]  ²² tn Heb “and prolongs his [life].”

[8:12]  ²³ tn Heb “those who fear God.”

[8:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “they fear.”

[35:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the house of the Rechabites.” “House” is used here in terms of “household” or “family” (cf. BDB 109 s.v. בַּיִת 5.a, b).

[35:2]  ²⁶ sn This refers to one of the rooms built on the outside of the temple that were used as living quarters for the priests and for storage rooms (cf. Neh 13:4-5; 1 Kgs 6:5; 1 Chr 28:12; 2 Chr 31:11 and compare Ezek 41:1-14).