2:27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not plainly 3 reveal myself to your ancestor’s 4 house when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh?
9:5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come on, let’s head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!”
10:14 Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?” Saul 16 replied, “To look for the donkeys. But when we realized they were lost, 17 we went to Samuel.”
11:3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Leave us alone for seven days so that we can send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If there is no one who can deliver us, we will come out voluntarily to you.”
13:15 Then Samuel set out and went up from Gilgal 22 to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. 23 Saul mustered the army that remained with him; there were about six hundred men.
14:43 So Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, “I used the end of the staff that was in my hand to taste a little honey. I must die!” 26
14:52 There was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. So whenever Saul saw anyone who was a warrior or a brave individual, he would conscript him.
17:50 34 David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. 35 17:51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath’s 36 sword, drew it from its sheath, 37 killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran away.
18:8 This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, 38 “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?”
20:2 Jonathan 39 said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing 40 large or small without making me aware of it. 41 Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”
20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan 44 and said to him, “You stupid traitor! 45 Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse? 20:31 For as long as 46 this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men 47 and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” 48
22:1 So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family 50 learned about it, they went down there to him.
23:3 But David’s men said to him, “We are afraid while we are still here in Judah! What will it be like if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”
24:8 Afterward David got up and went out of the cave. He called out after Saul, “My lord, O king!” When Saul looked behind him, David kneeled down and bowed with his face to the ground.
25:36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time 66 and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing 67 until morning’s light.
26:7 So David and Abishai approached the army at night and found Saul lying asleep in the entrenchment with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the army were lying all around him. 26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me drive the spear 69 right through him into the ground with one swift jab! 70 A second jab won’t be necessary!”
28:9 But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed 73 the mediums and magicians 74 from the land! Why are you trapping me 75 so you can put me to death?”
28:23 But he refused, saying, “I won’t eat!” Both his servants and the woman urged 78 him to eat, so he gave in. 79 He got up from the ground and sat down on the bed.
1 tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive here. The words “with them” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
3 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
4 tn Heb “to your father’s” (also in vv. 28, 30).
5 tn Heb “house.”
6 tn Heb “and he will walk about before my anointed one all the days.”
7 tn Heb “a piece of silver” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
8 tc The MT has וְהִגַּדְתִּי לוֹ (vÿhiggadti lo). The verb is Hiphil perfect 1st person common singular, and apparently the conjunction should be understood as vav consecutive (“I will say to him”). But the future reference makes more sense if Samuel is the subject. This would require dropping the final י (yod) and reading the 2nd person masculine singular וְהִגַּדְתָּ (vÿhiggadta). Although there is no external evidence to support it, this reading has been adopted in the present translation. The alternative is to understand the MT to mean “I said to him,” but for this we would expect the preterite with vav consecutive.
9 tn The translation understands the preposition to have a causal sense. However, the preposition could also be understood as the beth pretii, indicating in a broad sense the price attached to this action. So GKC 380 §119.p.
10 tc The translation follows the LXX θεόν (qeon, “God”) rather than the MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”). The MT seems to mean “they were bringing a curse on themselves” (cf. ASV, NASB). But this meaning is problematic in part because the verb qll means “to curse,” not “to bring a curse on,” and in part because it takes an accusative object rather than the equivalent of a dative. This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” Why would the ancient copyists alter the original statement about Eli’s sons cursing God to the less objectionable statement that they brought a curse on themselves? Some argue that the scribes were concerned that such a direct and blasphemous affront against God could occur without an immediate response of judgment from God. Therefore they changed the text by deleting two letters א and י (alef and yod) from the word for “God,” with the result that the text then read “to them.” If this ancient scribal claim is accepted as accurate, it implies that the MT here is secondary. The present translation follows the LXX (κακολογοῦντες θεόν, kakologounte" qeon) and a few
11 tc The LXX adds “they entered the temple of Dagon and saw.”
12 tn Heb “a lamb of milk”; NAB “an unweaned lamb”; NIV “a suckling lamb”; NCV “a baby lamb.”
13 tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).
14 tc Two medieval Hebrew
tn Heb “they”; the referents (Saul and his servant) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “And we saw that they were not.”
18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Or perhaps, “his oxen.” On this use of the definite article see Joüon 2:506-7 §137.f.
20 tn Heb “the matters of.”
21 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
22 tc The LXX and two Old Latin
23 tn Heb “at Gibeah of Benjamin.” The words “in the territory” are supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).
24 tn Heb “and they mustered the troops, and look!”
25 tn Heb “your father surely put the army under an oath.” The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb to emphasize the solemn nature of the oath.
26 tn Heb “Look, I, I will die.” Apparently Jonathan is acquiescing to his anticipated fate of death. However, the words may be taken as sarcastic (“Here I am about to die!”) or as a question, “Must I now die?” (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).
27 tn Heb “answered and said.”
28 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
29 tn Heb “mighty man of valor and a man of war.”
30 tn Heb “discerning of word.”
31 tn Heb “a man of form.”
32 tn The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
33 sn That is, about fifteen or sixteen pounds.
34 tc Most LXX
35 tn Verse 50 is a summary statement; v. 51 gives a more detailed account of how David killed the Philistine.
36 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
37 tc Most LXX
38 tn Heb “said.” So also in vv. 11, 17.
39 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
40 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew
41 tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”
42 tn Heb “to run.”
43 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
44 tc Many medieval Hebrew
45 tn Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.
46 tn Heb “all the days that.”
47 tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
48 tn Heb “a son of death.”
49 tn Heb “trembled to meet.”
50 tn Heb “house.”
51 tc The MT has “to all of you.” If this reading is correct, we have here an example of a prepositional phrase functioning as the equivalent of a dative of advantage, which is not impossible from a grammatical point of view. However, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate all have “and.” A conjunction rather than a preposition should probably be read on the front of this phrase.
52 tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”
53 tn The MT reading (“God has alienated him into my hand”) in v. 7 is a difficult and uncommon idiom. The use of this verb in Jer 19:4 is somewhat parallel, but not entirely so. Many scholars have therefore suspected a textual problem here, emending the word נִכַּר (nikkar, “alienated”) to סִכַּר (sikkar, “he has shut up [i.e., delivered]”). This is the idea reflected in the translations of the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate, although it is not entirely clear whether they are reading something different from the MT or are simply paraphrasing what for them too may have been a difficult text. The LXX has “God has sold him into my hands,” apparently reading מַכַר (makar, “sold”) for MT’s נִכַּר. The present translation is a rather free interpretation.
54 tn Heb “with two gates and a bar.” Since in English “bar” could be understood as a saloon, it has been translated as an attributive: “two barred gates.”
55 tn Heb “all the days.”
56 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
57 tn Heb “established.”
58 tn Heb “I will search him out.”
59 tn Heb “to search.”
60 tn Heb “all his house” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “his whole family.”
61 tn Heb “he is a son of worthlessness.”
62 tn Heb “said.”
63 tn Heb “up.”
64 tn Heb “your voice.”
65 tn Heb “I have lifted up your face.”
66 tn Heb “and the heart of Nabal was good upon him”; NASB, NRSV “Nabal’s heart was merry within him”; NIV “he was in high spirits”; NCV, TEV “was in a good mood”; CEV “was very drunk and feeling good.”
67 tn Heb “and she did not tell him a thing, small or large.”
68 tn Heb “after.”
69 tn Here “the spear” almost certainly refers to Saul’s own spear, which according to the previous verse was stuck into the ground beside him as he slept. This is reflected in a number of English versions: TEV, CEV “his own spear”; NLT “that spear.” Cf. NIV, NCV “my spear,” in which case Abishai refers to his own spear rather than Saul’s, but this is unlikely since (1) Abishai would probably not have carried a spear along since such a weapon would be unwieldy when sneaking into the enemy camp; and (2) this would not explain the mention of Saul’s own spear stuck in the ground beside him in the previous verse.
70 tn Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”
71 tn Heb “a man and his house.”
72 tn Heb “an owner of a ritual pit.” See the note at v. 3.
73 tn Heb “how he has cut off.”
74 tn See the note at v. 3.
75 tn Heb “my life.”
76 tn Heb “listened to your voice.”
77 tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”
78 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew
79 tn Heb “he listened to their voice.”
80 tn Heb “people.”
81 tn Heb “said to stone him.”
82 tn Heb “for bitter was the soul of all the people, each one.”
83 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).