1 Samuel 9:1

Samuel Meets with Saul

9:1 There was a Benjaminite man named Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He was a prominent person.

1 Samuel 14:50-51

14:50 The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the general in command of his army was Abner son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. ¹  14:51 Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son ²  of Abiel.

1 Samuel 17:55

17:55 ³ Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”

1 Samuel 17:2

17:2 Saul and the Israelite army ⁴  assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against ⁵  the Philistines.

1 Samuel 2:8-12

2:8 He lifts the weak ⁶  from the dust;

he raises ⁷  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ⁸ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

2:9 He watches over ⁹  his holy ones, ¹⁰ 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

2:10 The Lord shatters ¹¹  his adversaries; ¹² 

he thunders against them from ¹³  the heavens.

The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.

He will strengthen ¹⁴  his king

and exalt the power ¹⁵  of his anointed one.” ¹⁶ 

2:11 Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah. But the boy was serving the Lord under the supervision of ¹⁷  Eli the priest.

Eli’s Sons Misuse Their Sacred Office

2:12 The sons of Eli were wicked men. ¹⁸  They did not recognize the Lord’s authority. ¹⁹ 

1 Samuel 3:7-8

3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord; the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 3:8 Then the Lord called Samuel a third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me!” Eli then realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy.

1 Samuel 3:1

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ²⁰  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 3:1

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ²¹  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 3:1

The Call of Samuel

3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ²²  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 9:1

Samuel Meets with Saul

9:1 There was a Benjaminite man named Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He was a prominent person.

[14:50]  ¹ sn The word “uncle” can modify either Abner or Ner. See the note on the word “son” in v. 51 for further discussion.

[14:51]  ² tn 1 Chr 9:35-36 indicates that Jeiel (= Abiel?) had two sons (among others) named Ner and Kish (see also 1 Sam 9:1 and 1 Chr 8:30, where some Greek manuscripts include the name Ner, though it is absent in the Hebrew text). If this Kish was the father of Saul and Ner was the father of Abner, then Saul and Abner were cousins. However, according to 1 Chr 8:33 and 9:39, Ner, not Abiel, was the father of Kish. In this case, Kish and Abner were brothers and Abner was Saul’s uncle. The simplest solution to the problem is to see two men named Kish in the genealogy: Abiel (Jeiel) was the father of Ner and Kish I. Ner was the father of Abner and Kish II. Kish II was the father of Saul. The Kish mentioned in 1 Sam 9:1 was the father of Saul (v.2) and must be identified as Kish II. In this case the genealogy is “gapped,” with Ner being omitted. Abiel was the grandfather of Kish II.

[17:55]  ³ tc Most LXX mss lack 17:55–18:5.

[17:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”

[17:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “to meet.”

[2:8]  ⁶ tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

[2:8]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

[2:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.

[2:10]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this line and in the next two lines are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:10]  ¹² tc The present translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate in reading the plural (“his adversaries,” similarly many other English versions) rather than the singular (“his adversary”) of the Kethib.

[2:10]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew preposition here has the sense of “from within.”

[2:10]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this and the next line are understood as indicating what is anticipated and translated with the future tense, because at the time of Hannah’s prayer Israel did not yet have a king.

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the horn,” here a metaphor for power or strength. Cf. NCV “make his appointed king strong”; NLT “increases the might of his anointed one.”

[2:10]  ¹⁶ tc The LXX greatly expands v. 10 with an addition that seems to be taken from Jer 9:23-24.

[2:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with [or “before”] the face of.”

[2:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sons of worthlessness.”

[2:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they did not know the Lord.” The verb here has the semantic nuance “recognize the authority of.” Eli’s sons obviously knew who the Lord was; they served in his sanctuary. But they did not recognize his moral authority.

[3:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before Eli.”

[3:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “before Eli.”

[3:1]  ²² tn Heb “before Eli.”