Discovery Box1 Samuel 5:4
Context5:4 But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left intact. 1
1 Samuel 9:24
Context9:24 So the cook picked up the leg and brought it and set it in front of Saul. Samuel 2 said, “What was kept is now set before you! Eat, for it has been kept for you for this meeting time, from the time I said, ‘I have invited the people.’” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
1 Samuel 11:15
Context11:15 So all the people went to Gilgal, where 3 they established Saul as king in the Lord’s presence. They offered up peace offerings there in the Lord’s presence. Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.
1 Samuel 20:1
Context20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, 4 “What have I done? What is my offense? 5 How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”
1 Samuel 21:6
Context21:6 So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there other than the bread of the Presence. It had been removed from before the Lord in order to replace it with hot bread on the day it had been taken away.
[5:4] 1 tc Heb “only Dagon was left.” We should probably read the word גֵּו (gev, “back”) before Dagon, understanding it to have the sense of the similar word גְּוִיָּה (gÿviyyah, “body”). This variant is supported by the following evidence: The LXX has ἡ ῥάχις (Jh rJacis, “the back” or “trunk”); the Syriac Peshitta has wegusmeh (“and the body of”); the Targum has gupyeh (“the body of”); the Vulgate has truncus (“the trunk of,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT). On the strength of this evidence the present translation employs the phrase “Dagon’s body.”
[9:24] 2 tn Heb “he” (also in v. 25); the referent (Samuel) has been specified in both places in the translation for clarity.
[11:15] 3 tn Heb “and there in Gilgal.”
