1 Samuel 3:1

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ¹  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 28:1

The Witch of Endor

28:1 In those days the Philistines gathered their troops ²  for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, “You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.” ³ 

1 Samuel 29:4

29:4 But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said ⁴  to him, “Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don’t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become ⁵  our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men? ⁶ 

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “before Eli.”

[28:1]  ² tn Heb “their camps.”

[28:1]  ³ tc The translation follows the LXX (εἰς πόλεμον, eis polemon) and a Qumran ms מלחמה במלחמה ([m]lkhmh) bammilkhamah (“in the battle”) rather than the MT’s בַמַּחֲנֶה (bammakhaneh, “in the camp”; cf. NASB). While the MT reading is not impossible here, and although admittedly it is the harder reading, the variant fits the context better. The MT can be explained as a scribal error caused in part by the earlier occurrence of “camp” in this verse.

[29:4]  ³ tn Heb “and the leaders of the Philistines said.”

[29:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “so that he might not become.”

[29:4]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps, “our men.” On this use of the demonstrative pronoun see Joüon 2:532 §143.e.