1 Samuel 1:20

1:20 After some time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, thinking, “I asked the Lord for him.

1 Samuel 1:28

1:28 Now I dedicate him to the Lord. From this time on he is dedicated to the Lord.” Then they worshiped the Lord there.

1 Samuel 2:32

2:32 You will see trouble in my dwelling place! Israel will experience blessings, but there will not be an old man in your house for all time.

1 Samuel 3:2

3:2 Eli’s eyes had begun to fail, so that he was unable to see well. At that time he was lying down in his place,

1 Samuel 7:2

Further Conflict with the Philistines

7:2 It was quite a long time – some twenty years in all – that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people of Israel longed for the Lord.

1 Samuel 13:8

13:8 He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. 10 

1 Samuel 14:35

14:35 Then Saul built an altar for the Lord; it was the first time he had built an altar for the Lord.

1 Samuel 18:19

18:19 When the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she instead was given in marriage to Adriel, who was from Meholah.

1 Samuel 18:26

18:26 So his servants told David these things and David agreed 11  to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired 12 

1 Samuel 19:21

19:21 When it was reported to Saul, he sent more messengers, but they prophesied too. So Saul sent messengers a third time, but they also prophesied.

1 Samuel 22:4

22:4 So he had them stay with the king of Moab; they stayed with him the whole time 13  that David was in the stronghold.

1 Samuel 23:15

23:15 David realized 14  that Saul had come out to seek his life; at that time David was in Horesh in the desert of Ziph.

1 Samuel 25:15-16

25:15 These men were very good to us. They did not insult us, nor did we sustain any loss during the entire time we were together 15  in the field. 25:16 Both night and day they were a protective wall for us the entire time we were with them, while we were tending our flocks.

tn Heb “because from the Lord I asked him.” The name “Samuel” sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “asked.” The explanation of the meaning of the name “Samuel” that is provided in v. 20 is not a strict etymology. It seems to suggest that the first part of the name is derived from the Hebrew root שׁאל (shl, “to ask”), but the consonants do not support this. Nor is it likely that the name comes from the root שׁמא (shm’, “to hear”), for the same reason. It more probably derives from שֶׁם (shem, “name”), so that “Samuel” means “name of God.” Verse 20 therefore does not set forth a linguistic explanation of the meaning of the name, but rather draws a parallel between similar sounds. This figure of speech is known as paronomasia.

tn Heb “he,” apparently referring to Samuel (but cf. CEV “Elkanah”). A few medieval manuscripts and some ancient versions take the verb as plural (cf. TEV, NLT).

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).

tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”

tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.

tn Heb “all the days.”

tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

tn Heb “mourned after”; NIV “mourned and sought after”; KJV, NRSV “lamented after”; NAB “turned to”; NCV “began to follow…again.”

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.

10 tn Heb “dispersed from upon him”; NAB, NRSV “began to slip away.”

11 tn Heb “and it was acceptable in the eyes of David.”

12 tn Heb “the days were not fulfilled.”

13 tn Heb “all the days.”

14 tn Heb “saw.”

15 tn Heb “all the days we walked about with them when we were.”