1 Samuel 4:7

4:7 The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. ¹  They said, “Too bad for ²  us! We’ve never seen anything like this!

1 Samuel 8:6

8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for ³  they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord.

1 Samuel 10:27

10:27 But some wicked men ⁴  said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 13:19

13:19 A blacksmith could not be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “This will prevent the Hebrews from making swords and spears.”

[4:7]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Traditionally “woe to.” They thought disaster was imminent.

[8:6]  ³ tn Heb “when.”

[10:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).

[10:27]  ⁶ tc In place of the MT (“and it was like one being silent”) the LXX has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran ms of Samuel, which has here “about a month.” However, it seems best to stay with the MT here even though it is difficult.