1 Samuel 6:19

6:19 But the Lord ¹  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

1 Samuel 15:15

15:15 Saul said, “They were brought ³  from the Amalekites; the army spared the best of the flocks and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord our God. But everything else we slaughtered.”

1 Samuel 15:20

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ⁴  the Lord! I went on the campaign ⁵  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

[6:19]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:19]  ² tc The number 50,070 is surprisingly large, although it finds almost unanimous textual support in the MT and in the ancient versions. Only a few medieval Hebrew mss lack “50,000,” reading simply “70” instead. However, there does not seem to be sufficient external evidence to warrant reading 70 rather than 50,070, although that is done by a number of recent translations (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The present translation (reluctantly) follows the MT and the ancient versions here.

[15:15]  ³ tn Heb “they brought them.”

[15:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “journey.”