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 9:12

9:12 They replied, “Yes, straight ahead! But hurry now, for he came to the town today, and the people are making a sacrifice at the high place.

1 Samuel 10:7

10:7 “When these signs have taken place, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God will be with you. ³ 

1 Samuel 12:12

12:12 “When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’ – even though the Lord your God is your king!

1 Samuel 12:21-22

12:21 You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty. ⁴  12:22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. ⁵  The Lord was pleased to make you his own people.

1 Samuel 13:6

13:6 The men of Israel realized they had a problem because their army was hard pressed. So the army hid in caves, thickets, cliffs, strongholds, ⁶  and cisterns.

1 Samuel 14:29-30

14:29 Then Jonathan said, “My father has caused trouble for the land. See how my eyes gleamed ⁷  when I tasted just a little of this honey. 14:30 Certainly if the army had eaten some of the enemies’ provisions that they came across today, would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”

1 Samuel 15:24

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ⁸  and what you said as well. ⁹  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 17:47

17:47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

1 Samuel 20:26

20:26 However, Saul said nothing about it ¹¹  that day, for he thought, ¹²  “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.”

1 Samuel 22:23

22:23 Stay with me. Don’t be afraid! Whoever ¹³  seeks my life is seeking your life as well. You are secure with me.”

1 Samuel 23:7

23:7 When Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has delivered ¹⁴  him into my hand, for he has boxed himself into a corner by entering a city with two barred gates.” ¹⁵ 

[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.

[10:7]  ³ sn In light of Saul’s commission to be Israel’s deliverer (see v. 1), it is likely that some type of military action against the Philistines (see v.5) is implied.

[12:21]  ⁵ tn Or “useless” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “nothing”; NASB “futile”; TEV “are not real.”

[12:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “on account of his great name.”

[13:6]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps “vaults.” This rare term also occurs in Judg 9:46, 49. Cf. KJV “high places”; ASV “coverts”; NAB “caverns”; NASB “cellars”; NIV, NCV, TEV “pits”; NRSV, NLT “tombs.”

[14:29]  ¹¹ tc The LXX reads “saw.” See v. 27.

[15:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

[20:26]  ¹⁵ tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.

[20:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.

[22:23]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the one who.” This may refer specifically to Saul, in which case David acknowledges that Abiathar’s life is endangered because of his allegiance to David. The translation assumes that the statement is more generalized, meaning that any enemy of Abiathar is an enemy of David. In other words, David promises that he will protect Abiathar with his very own life.

[23:7]  ¹⁹ tn The MT reading (“God has alienated him into my hand”) in v. 7 is a difficult and uncommon idiom. The use of this verb in Jer 19:4 is somewhat parallel, but not entirely so. Many scholars have therefore suspected a textual problem here, emending the word נִכַּר (nikkar, “alienated”) to סִכַּר (sikkar, “he has shut up [i.e., delivered]”). This is the idea reflected in the translations of the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate, although it is not entirely clear whether they are reading something different from the MT or are simply paraphrasing what for them too may have been a difficult text. The LXX has “God has sold him into my hands,” apparently reading מַכַר (makar, “sold”) for MT’s נִכַּר. The present translation is a rather free interpretation.

[23:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “with two gates and a bar.” Since in English “bar” could be understood as a saloon, it has been translated as an attributive: “two barred gates.”