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 5:9

5:9 But after it had been moved the Lord attacked ⁴  that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city ⁵  with sores. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 9:20

9:20 Don’t be concerned ⁷  about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found. Whom does all Israel desire? Is it not you, and all your father’s family?” ⁸ 

1 Samuel 14:34

14:34 Then Saul said, “Scatter out among the army and say to them, ‘Each of you bring to me your ox and sheep and slaughter them in this spot and eat. But don’t sin against the Lord by eating the blood.” So that night each one brought his ox and slaughtered it there. ⁹ 

1 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Goliath ¹⁰  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ¹¹  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ¹²  for yourselves a man so he may come down ¹³  to me!

1 Samuel 25:7

25:7 Now I hear that they are shearing sheep for you. When your shepherds were with us, we neither insulted them nor harmed them the whole time they were in Carmel.

1 Samuel 26:12

26:12 So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul’s head, and they got out of there. No one saw them or was aware of their presence or woke up. All of them were asleep, for the Lord had caused a deep sleep to fall on them.

1 Samuel 30:21

30:21 Then David approached the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to go with him, ¹⁴  those whom they had left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and the people who were with him. When David approached the people, he asked how they were doing.

[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.

[5:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was against the city.”

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he struck the men of the city from small and to great.”

[5:9]  ⁶ tn See the note on this term in v. 6. Cf. KJV “and they had emerods in their secret parts.”

[9:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “do not fix your heart.”

[9:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “and all the house of your father.”

[14:34]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and all the army brought near, each his ox by his hand, and they slaughtered there.”

[17:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:8]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

[17:8]  ¹⁵ tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.

[17:8]  ¹⁶ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

[30:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “David.” The pronoun (“him”) has been substituted for the proper name in the translation for stylistic reasons.