1 Samuel 25:22

25:22 God will severely punish David, ¹  if I leave alive until morning even one male ²  from all those who belong to him!”

1 Samuel 31:2

31:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels ³  of Saul and his sons. They ⁴  struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

1 Samuel 31:2

31:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels ⁵  of Saul and his sons. They ⁶  struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

1 Samuel 4:7-8

4:7 The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. ⁷  They said, “Too bad for ⁸  us! We’ve never seen anything like this! 4:8 Too bad for us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert!

1 Samuel 21:8

21:8 David said to Ahimelech, “Is there no sword or spear here at your disposal? I don’t have my own sword or equipment in hand due to the urgency of the king’s instructions.”

[25:22]  ¹ tc Heb “Thus God will do to the enemies of David and thus he will add.” Most of the Old Greek ms tradition has simply “David,” with no reference to his enemies. In OT imprecations such as the one found in v. 22 it is common for the speaker to direct malediction toward himself as an indication of the seriousness with which he regards the matter at hand. In other words, the speaker invites on himself dire consequences if he fails to fulfill the matter expressed in the oath. However, in the situation alluded to in v. 22 the threat actually does not come to fruition due to the effectiveness of Abigail’s appeal to David in behalf of her husband Nabal. Instead, David is placated through Abigail’s intervention. It therefore seems likely that the reference to “the enemies of David” in the MT of v. 22 is the result of a scribal attempt to deliver David from the implied consequences of this oath. The present translation follows the LXX rather than the MT here.

[25:22]  ² tn Heb “one who urinates against a wall” (also in v. 34); KJV “any that pisseth against the wall.”

[31:2]  ³ tn Heb “stuck close after.”

[31:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Philistines.”

[31:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “stuck close after.”

[31:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Philistines.”

[4:7]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text has a direct quote, “because they said, ‘Gods have come to the camp.’” Even though the verb translated “have come” is singular, the following subject should be taken as plural (“gods”), as v. 8 indicates. Some emend the verb to a plural form.

[4:7]  ⁸ tn Traditionally “woe to.” They thought disaster was imminent.