1 Samuel 1:28

1:28 Now I dedicate him to the Lord. From this time on he is dedicated to the Lord.” Then they¹ worshiped the Lord there.

1 Samuel 10:23

10:23 So they ran and brought him from there. When he took his position among the people, he stood head and shoulders above them all.

1 Samuel 12:24

12:24 However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you!

1 Samuel 14:2

14:2 Now Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree in Migron, on the outskirts of Gibeah. The army that was with him numbered about six hundred men.

1 Samuel 14:7

14:7 His armor bearer said to him, “Do everything that is on your mind.² Do as you’re inclined. I’m with you all the way!”³

1 Samuel 14:20

14:20 Saul and all the army that was with him assembled and marched into battle, where they found⁴ the Philistines in total panic killing one another with their swords.⁵

1 Samuel 14:37

14:37 So Saul asked God, “Should I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.

1 Samuel 15:16

15:16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait a minute!⁶ Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” Saul⁷ said to him, “Tell me.”

1 Samuel 15:32

Samuel Puts Agag to Death

15:32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of the Amalekites.” So Agag came to him trembling,⁸ thinking to himself,⁹ “Surely death is bitter!”¹⁰

1 Samuel 17:30

17:30 Then he turned from those who were nearby to someone else and asked the same question,¹¹ but they¹² gave him the same answer as before.

1 Samuel 17:38

17:38 Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a bronze helmet on his head. He also put body armor on him.

1 Samuel 17:48

17:48 The Philistine drew steadily closer to David to attack him, while David quickly ran toward the battle line to attack the Philistine.¹³

1 Samuel 17:58

17:58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” David replied, “I am the son of your servant Jesse in Bethlehem.”¹⁴

1 Samuel 18:11

18:11 and Saul threw the spear, thinking, “I’ll nail David to the wall!” But David escaped from him on two different occasions.

1 Samuel 18:13

18:13 Saul removed David¹⁵ from his presence and made him a commanding officer.¹⁶ David led the army out to battle and back.¹⁷

1 Samuel 19:8

19:8 Now once again there was war. So David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them thoroughly¹⁸ and they ran away from him.

1 Samuel 19:23

19:23 So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God came upon him as well, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

1 Samuel 20:25-26

20:25 The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him¹⁹ and Abner at his side.²⁰ But David’s place was vacant. 20:26 However, Saul said nothing about it²¹ that day, for he thought,²² “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.”

1 Samuel 20:33

20:33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan²³ in order to strike him down. So Jonathan was convinced²⁴ that his father had decided to kill David.

1 Samuel 20:36

20:36 He said to his servant, “Run, find the arrows that I am about to shoot.” As the servant ran, Jonathan²⁵ shot the arrow beyond him.

1 Samuel 22:4

22:4 So he had them stay with the king of Moab; they stayed with him the whole time²⁶ that David was in the stronghold.

1 Samuel 23:20

23:20 Now at your own discretion,²⁷ O king, come down. Delivering him into the king’s hand will be our responsibility.”

1 Samuel 23:22

23:22 Go and make further arrangements. Determine precisely²⁸ where he is²⁹ and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning.

1 Samuel 25:5

25:5 he³⁰ sent ten servants,³¹ saying to them,³² “Go up to Carmel to see Nabal and give him greetings in my name.³³

1 Samuel 25:22

25:22 God will severely punish David,³⁴ if I leave alive until morning even one male³⁵ from all those who belong to him!”

1 Samuel 25:37

25:37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober,³⁶ his wife told him about these matters. He had a stroke and was paralyzed.³⁷

1 Samuel 26:9

26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill him! Who can extend his hand against the Lord’s chosen one³⁸ and remain guiltless?”

1 Samuel 27:6

27:6 So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (For that reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this very day.)

1 Samuel 28:6

28:6 So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him – not by dreams nor by Urim³⁹ nor by the prophets.

¹tn 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).

²tn Heb “in your heart.”

³tn Heb “Look, I am with you, according to your heart.” See the note at 13:14.

⁴tn Heb “and look, there was”

⁵tn Heb “the sword of a man against his companion, a very great panic.”

⁶tn Or perhaps “be quiet.”

⁷tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the singular (“he said”) rather than the plural (“they said”) of the Kethib.

tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸tn The MT reading מַעֲדַנֹּת (ma’adannot, literally, “bonds,” used here adverbially, “in bonds”) is difficult. The word is found only here and in Job 38:31. Part of the problem lies in determining the root of the word. Some scholars have taken it to be from the root ענד (’nd, “to bind around”), but this assumes a metathesis of two of the letters of the root. Others take it from the root עדן (’dn) with the meaning “voluptuously,” but this does not seem to fit the context. It seems better to understand the word to be from the root מעד (m’d, “to totter” or “shake”). In that case it describes the fear that Agag experienced in realizing the mortal danger that he faced as he approached Samuel. This is the way that the LXX translators understood the word, rendering it by the Greek participle τρέμον (tremon, “trembling”).

⁹tn Heb “and Agag said.”

¹⁰tc The text is difficult here. With the LXX, two Old Latin mss, and the Syriac Peshitta it is probably preferable to delete סָר (sar, “is past”) of the MT; it looks suspiciously like a dittograph of the following word מַר (mar, “bitter”). This further affects the interpretation of Agag’s comment. In the MT he comes to Samuel confidently assured that the danger is over (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV “Surely the bitterness of death is past,” along with NLT, CEV). However, it seems more likely that Agag realized that his fortunes had suddenly taken a turn for the worse and that the clemency he had enjoyed from Saul would not be his lot from Samuel. The present translation thus understands Agag to approach not confidently but in the stark realization that his death is imminent (“Surely death is bitter!”). Cf. NAB “So it is bitter death!”; NRSV “Surely this is the bitterness of death”; TEV “What a bitter thing it is to die!”

¹¹tn Heb “and spoke according to this word.”

¹²tn Heb “the people.”

¹³tc Most LXX mss lack the second half of v. 48.

¹⁴map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

¹⁵tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶tn Heb “an officer of a thousand.”

¹⁷tn Heb “and he went out and came in before the people.” See v. 16.

¹⁸tn Heb “and he struck them down with a great blow.”

¹⁹tc 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.

²⁰tn Heb “and Abner sat at the side of Saul.”

²¹tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.

²²tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.

²³tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁴tn Heb “knew.”

²⁵tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁶tn Heb “all the days.”

²⁷tn Heb “to all the desire of your soul.”

²⁸tn Heb “know and see.” The expression is a hendiadys. See also v. 23.

²⁹tn Heb “his place where his foot is.”

³⁰tn Heb “David”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun has been used in the translation.

³¹tn Or “young men.”

³²tn Heb “and David said to the young men.”

³³tn Heb “and inquire concerning him in my name in regard to peace.”

³⁴tc Heb “Thus God will do to the enemies of David and thus he will add.” Most of the Old Greek ms tradition has simply “David,” with no reference to his enemies. In OT imprecations such as the one found in v. 22 it is common for the speaker to direct malediction toward himself as an indication of the seriousness with which he regards the matter at hand. In other words, the speaker invites on himself dire consequences if he fails to fulfill the matter expressed in the oath. However, in the situation alluded to in v. 22 the threat actually does not come to fruition due to the effectiveness of Abigail’s appeal to David in behalf of her husband Nabal. Instead, David is placated through Abigail’s intervention. It therefore seems likely that the reference to “the enemies of David” in the MT of v. 22 is the result of a scribal attempt to deliver David from the implied consequences of this oath. The present translation follows the LXX rather than the MT here.

³⁵tn Heb “one who urinates against a wall” (also in v. 34); KJV “any that pisseth against the wall.”

³⁶tn Heb “when the wine had gone out from Nabal.”

³⁷tn Heb “and his heart died within him and he became a stone.” Cf. TEV, NLT “stroke”; CEV “heart attack.” For an alternative interpretation than that presented above, see Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle, “The Law of the Heart: The Death of a Fool (1 Samuel 25),” JBL 120 (2001): 401-27, who argues that a medical diagnosis is not necessary here. Instead, the passage makes a connection between the heart and the law; Nabal dies for his lawlessness.

³⁸tn Heb “anointed” (also in vv. 11, 16, 23).

³⁹sn See the note at 1 Sam 14:41.