1 Samuel 4:3

4:3 When the army ¹  came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by ²  the Philistines? Let’s take with us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. When it is with us, it will save us ³  from the hand of our enemies.

1 Samuel 9:6

9:6 But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. ⁴  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ⁵ 

1 Samuel 10:19

10:19 But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No! ⁶  Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”

1 Samuel 20:41

20:41 When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, ⁷  knelt ⁸  with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David.

1 Samuel 22:17

22:17 Then the king said to the messengers ⁹  who were stationed beside him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, for they too have sided ¹⁰  with David! They knew he was fleeing, but they did not inform me.” But the king’s servants refused to harm ¹¹  the priests of the Lord.

1 Samuel 31:4

31:4 Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it.

[4:3]  ¹ tn Or “people.”

[4:3]  ² tn Heb “before.”

[4:3]  ³ tn Heb “and it will come in our midst and it will save.” After the cohortative (see “let’s take”), the prefixed verbal forms with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose or result. The translation understands the ark to be the subject of the third masculine singular verbs, although it is possible to understand the Lord as the subject. In the latter case, one should translate, “when he is with us, he will save us.”

[9:6]  ⁴ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[10:19]  ⁷ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading לֹא (lo’, “not”) rather than the MT לוֹ (lo; “to him”). Some witnesses combine the variants, resulting in a conflated text. For example, a few medieval Hebrew mss have לֹא לוֹ (lo lo’; “to him, ‘No.’”). A few others have לֹא לִי (li lo’; “to me, ‘No.’”).

[20:41]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the LXX in reading “the mound,” rather than the MT’s “the south.” It is hard to see what meaning the MT reading “from beside the south” would have as it stands, since such a location lacks specificity. The NIV treats it as an elliptical expression, rendering the phrase as “from the south side of the stone (rock NCV).” This is perhaps possible, but it seems better to follow the LXX rather than the MT here.

[20:41]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fell.”

[22:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “runners.”

[22:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “their hand is.”

[22:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to extend their hand to harm.”