2:9 He watches over 4 his holy ones, 5
but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,
for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.
2:11 Then Elkanah went back home to Ramah. But the boy was serving the Lord under the supervision of 6 Eli the priest.
3:15 So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the Lord’s house. But Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.
8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for 11 they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord.
8:19 But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. 16 Instead they said, “No! There will be a king over us!
19:1 Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much. 24
22:9 But Doeg the Edomite, who had stationed himself with the servants of Saul, replied, “I saw this son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.
26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill him! Who can extend his hand against the Lord’s chosen one 27 and remain guiltless?”
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands’?”
29:11 So David and his men got up early in the morning to return 30 to the land of the Philistines, but the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
1 tn The exact sense of the Hebrew word אַפָּיִם (’appayim, “two faces”) is not certain here. It is most likely used with the preceding expression (“one portion of two faces”) to mean a portion double than normally received. Although evidence for this use of the word derives primarily from Aramaic rather than from Hebrew usage, it provides an understanding that fits the context here better than other suggestions for the word do. The meaning “double” is therefore adopted in the present translation. Other possibilities for the meaning of the word include the following: “heavily” (cf. Vulg., tristis) and “worthy” or “choice” (cf. KJV and Targum). Some scholars have followed the LXX here, emending the word to אֶפֶס (’efes) and translating it as “but” or “however.” This seems unnecessary. The translators of the LXX may simply have been struggling to make sense of the word rather than following a Hebrew text that was different from the MT here.
2 tn Heb “for Hannah he loved.” Repetition of the proper name would seem redundant in contemporary English, so the pronoun (“her”) has been used here for clarity. The translation also adds the adverb “especially” to clarify the meaning of the text. Without this addition one might get the impression that only Hannah, not Peninnah, was loved by her husband. But the point of the text is that Hannah was his favorite.
3 tn Heb “and the
4 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.
5 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
6 tn Heb “with [or “before”] the face of.”
7 tn Heb “you will see [the] trouble of [the] dwelling place.” Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun is supplied in the translation (see v. 29).
8 tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”
9 tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.
10 tn Heb “all the days.”
11 tn Heb “when.”
12 tn Heb “and now, listen to their voice.”
13 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the imperative for emphasis.
14 tn Heb “and tell them the manner of the king who will rule over them.”
15 tc The LXX adds “because you have chosen for yourselves a king.”
16 tn Heb “and the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel.”
17 tn This apparently refers to the instructions given by Samuel in 1 Sam 10:8. If so, several years had passed. On the relationship between chs. 10 and 13, see V. P. Long, The Art of Biblical History (FCI), 201-23.
18 tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”
19 tn Heb “and the army entered the forest, and look!”
20 tn Heb “and there was no one putting his hand to his mouth.”
21 tn Heb “caused seven of his sons to pass before Samuel.” This could be taken as referring to seven sons in addition to the three mentioned before this, but 1 Sam 17:12 says Jesse had eight sons, not eleven. 1 Chr 2:13-15 lists only seven sons, including David. However, 1 Chr 27:18 mentions an additional son, named Elihu.
22 tn Heb “and spoke according to this word.”
23 tn Heb “the people.”
24 tn Heb “delighted greatly in David.”
25 tc Heb “and Jonathan arose.” Instead of MT’s וַיָּקָם (vayyaqam, “and he arose”; from the hollow verbal root קוּם, qum), the translation assumes a reading וַיִּקַדֵּם (vayyiqaddem, “and he was in front of”; from the verbal root קדם, qdm). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.
26 tn Heb “and Abner sat at the side of Saul.”
27 tn Heb “anointed” (also in vv. 11, 16, 23).
28 sn See the note at 1 Sam 14:41.
29 tn Heb “in dances.”
30 tc Heb “to go in the morning to return.” With the exception of Origen and the Lucianic recension, the Old Greek tradition lacks the phrase “in the morning.” The Syriac Peshitta also omits it.
31 tn Heb “who rode on camels and fled.”