1 Samuel 3:13

3:13 You ¹  should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of ²  the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God, ³  and he did not rebuke them.

1 Samuel 3:1

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ⁴  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 1:6

1:6 Her rival wife used to upset her and make her worry, ⁵  for the Lord had not enabled her to have children.

Romans 13:3

13:3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation,

Romans 13:1

Submission to Civil Government

13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, ⁶  and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God.

Romans 2:14

2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, ⁷  who do not have the law, do by nature ⁸  the things required by the law, ⁹  these who do not have the law are a law to themselves.

[3:13]  ¹ tc The MT has וְהִגַּדְתִּי לוֹ (vÿhiggadti lo). The verb is Hiphil perfect 1st person common singular, and apparently the conjunction should be understood as vav consecutive (“I will say to him”). But the future reference makes more sense if Samuel is the subject. This would require dropping the final י (yod) and reading the 2nd person masculine singular וְהִגַּדְתָּ (vÿhiggadta). Although there is no external evidence to support it, this reading has been adopted in the present translation. The alternative is to understand the MT to mean “I said to him,” but for this we would expect the preterite with vav consecutive.

[3:13]  ² tn The translation understands the preposition to have a causal sense. However, the preposition could also be understood as the beth pretii, indicating in a broad sense the price attached to this action. So GKC 380 §119.p.

[3:13]  ³ tc The translation follows the LXX θεόν (qeon, “God”) rather than the MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”). The MT seems to mean “they were bringing a curse on themselves” (cf. ASV, NASB). But this meaning is problematic in part because the verb qll means “to curse,” not “to bring a curse on,” and in part because it takes an accusative object rather than the equivalent of a dative. This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” Why would the ancient copyists alter the original statement about Eli’s sons cursing God to the less objectionable statement that they brought a curse on themselves? Some argue that the scribes were concerned that such a direct and blasphemous affront against God could occur without an immediate response of judgment from God. Therefore they changed the text by deleting two letters א and י (alef and yod) from the word for “God,” with the result that the text then read “to them.” If this ancient scribal claim is accepted as accurate, it implies that the MT here is secondary. The present translation follows the LXX (κακολογοῦντες θεόν, kakologounte" qeon) and a few mss of the Old Latin in reading “God” rather than the MT “to them.” Cf. also NAB, NRSV, NLT.

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “before Eli.”

[1:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and her rival wife grieved her, even [with] grief so as to worry her.”

[13:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “by God.”

[2:14]  ⁷ sn Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.

[2:14]  ⁸ tn Some (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:135-37) take the phrase φύσει (fusei, “by nature”) to go with the preceding “do not have the law,” thus: “the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature,” that is, by virtue of not being born Jewish.

[2:14]  ⁹ tn Grk “do by nature the things of the law.”