1:23 So her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what you think best. 1 Stay until you have weaned him. May the Lord fulfill his promise.” 2
So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
4:16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines! Just today I fled from the battle lines!” Eli 4 asked, “How did things go, my son?”
7:1 Then the people 6 of Kiriath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord; they brought it to the house of Abinadab located on the hill. They consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord.
9:3 The donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off, 7 so Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go 8 look for the donkeys.” 9
14:40 Then he said to all Israel, “You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.” The army replied to Saul, “Do whatever you think is best.”
17:12 18 Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem 19 in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. 20
18:18 David said to Saul, “Who am I? Who are my relatives or the clan of my father 21 in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”
18:22 Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.” 18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately 22 to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”
20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan 23 and said to him, “You stupid traitor! 24 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 25 this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men 26 and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” 27
22:11 Then the king arranged for a meeting with the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and all the priests of his father’s house who were at Nob. They all came to the king.
22:14 Ahimelech replied to the king, “Who among all your servants is faithful like David? He is the king’s son-in-law, the leader of your bodyguard, and honored in your house!
26:21 Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you, for you treated my life with value 33 this day. I have behaved foolishly and have made a very terrible mistake!” 34
1 tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”
2 tn Heb “establish his word.” This apparently refers to the promise inherent in Eli’s priestly blessing (see v. 17).
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”
6 tn Heb “men.”
7 tn Heb “became lost.”
8 tn Heb “and arise, go.”
9 tc The Syriac Peshitta includes the following words: “So Saul arose and went out. He took with him one of the boys and went out to look for his father’s donkeys.”
10 tn Or “the servant who was carrying his military equipment” (likewise in vv. 6, 7, 12, 13, 14).
11 tn Heb “and there was no one answering from all the army.”
12 sn The word “uncle” can modify either Abner or Ner. See the note on the word “son” in v. 51 for further discussion.
13 tn Heb “answered and said.”
14 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
15 tn Heb “mighty man of valor and a man of war.”
16 tn Heb “discerning of word.”
17 tn Heb “a man of form.”
18 tc Some
19 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
20 tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”
21 tn Heb “Who are my relatives, the clan of my father?” The term חַי (khay), traditionally understood as “my life,” is here a rare word meaning “family, kinfolk” (see HALOT 309 s.v. III חַי). The phrase “clan of my father” may be a scribal gloss explaining the referent of this rare word.
22 tn Heb “in the ears of.”
23 tc Many medieval Hebrew
24 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.
25 tn Heb “all the days that.”
26 tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
27 tn Heb “a son of death.”
28 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.
29 tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”
30 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew
31 tn This refers to the ten servants sent by David.
32 tn Heb “whatever your hand will find.”
33 tn Heb “my life was valuable in your eyes.”
34 tn Heb “and I have erred very greatly.”
35 tn Heb “blessed.”
36 tn Heb “you will certainly do and also you will certainly be able.” The infinitive absolutes placed before the finite verbal forms lend emphasis to the statement.