1 Samuel 2:5

2:5 Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food,

but the hungry no longer lack.

Even ¹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ² 

but the one with many children withers away. ³ 

1 Samuel 2:13-14

2:13 Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: ⁴  Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork ⁵  in his hand. 2:14 He would jab it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot, and everything that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all the Israelites ⁶  when they came there to Shiloh.

1 Samuel 7:6

7:6 After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed ⁷  there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel led ⁸  the people of Israel at Mizpah.

1 Samuel 10:18

10:18 He said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt and I delivered you from the power ⁹  of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.

1 Samuel 12:12

12:12 “When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’ – even though the Lord your God is your king!

1 Samuel 14:47

14:47 After Saul had secured his royal position over Israel, he fought against all their ¹⁰  enemies on all sides – the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. In every direction that he turned he was victorious. ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 25:17

25:17 Now be aware of this, and see what you can do. For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household. ¹²  He is such a wicked person ¹³  that no one tells him anything!”

[2:5]  ¹ tc Against BHS but with the MT, the preposition (עַד, ’ad) should be taken with what follows rather than with what precedes. For this sense of the preposition see Job 25:5.

[2:5]  ² sn The number seven is used here in an ideal sense. Elsewhere in the OT having seven children is evidence of fertility as a result of God’s blessing on the family. See, for example, Jer 15:9, Ruth 4:15.

[2:5]  ³ tn Or “languishes.”

[2:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “the habit of the priests with the people [was this].”

[2:13]  ⁵ sn The Hebrew word occurs only twice in the OT, here and again in v. 14. Its exact meaning is not entirely clear, although from the context it appears to be a sacrificial tool used for retrieving things from boiling water.

[2:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[7:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “said.”

[7:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “judged”; NAB “began to judge”; TEV “settled disputes among.”

[10:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “hand” (also later in this verse).

[14:47]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his,” which could refer to Israel or to Saul.

[14:47]  ¹⁷ tc The translation follows the LXX (“he was delivered”), rather than the MT, which reads, “he acted wickedly.”

[25:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all his house” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “his whole family.”

[25:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he is a son of worthlessness.”