1:3 Year after year 1 this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord’s priests.
2:30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say 8 that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve 9 me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! 10 For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed!
4:3 When the army 11 came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by 12 the Philistines? Let’s take with us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. When it is with us, it will save us 13 from the hand of our enemies.
14:6 Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come on, let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will intervene 19 for us. Nothing can prevent the Lord from delivering, whether by many or by a few.”
14:41 Then Saul said, “O Lord God of Israel! If this sin has been committed by me or by my son Jonathan, then, O Lord God of Israel, respond with Urim. But if this sin has been committed by your people Israel, respond with Thummim.” 20 Then Jonathan and Saul were indicated by lot, while the army was exonerated. 21
27 Then David 28 got up and left, while Jonathan went back to the city.
25:39 When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, “Praised be the Lord who has vindicated me and avenged the insult that I suffered from Nabal! 33 The Lord has kept his servant from doing evil, and he has repaid Nabal for his evil deeds.” 34 Then David sent word to Abigail and asked her to become his wife.
1 tn Heb “from days to days.”
2 tn Heb “if looking you look.” The expression can refer, as here, to looking favorably upon another, in this case with compassion.
3 tn Heb “handmaid.” The use of this term (translated two more times in this verse and once each in vv. 16, 17 simply as “servant” for stylistic reasons) is an expression of humility.
4 tn Heb “seed of men.”
5 tn Heb “a razor will not go up upon his head.”
6 tn Heb “they”; the referent (Eli’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “desired.”
8 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
9 tn Heb “walk about before.”
10 tn Heb “may it be far removed from me.”
11 tn Or “people.”
12 tn Heb “before.”
13 tn Heb “and it will come in our midst and it will save.” After the cohortative (see “let’s take”), the prefixed verbal forms with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose or result. The translation understands the ark to be the subject of the third masculine singular verbs, although it is possible to understand the Lord as the subject. In the latter case, one should translate, “when he is with us, he will save us.”
14 tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural; also in the following verse). The words “images of” are supplied for clarity.
sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. The presence of Ashtarot in Israel is a sign of pervasive pagan and idolatrous influences; hence Samuel calls for their removal. See 1 Sam 31:10, where the Philistines deposit the armor of the deceased Saul in the temple of the Ashtarot, and 1 Kgs 11:5, 33; 2 Kgs 23:13, where Solomon is faulted for worshiping the Ashtarot.
15 tn Following imperatives, the jussive verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.
16 tn Heb “and said.”
17 tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.
sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in 7:3.
18 tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.
19 tn Heb “act.”
20 tc Heb “to the
sn The Urim and Thummim were used for lot casting in ancient Israel. Their exact identity is uncertain; they may have been specially marked stones drawn from a bag. See Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8, and Deut 33:8, as well as the discussion in R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 140.
21 tn Heb “went out.”
22 tn Heb “don’t look toward.”
23 tn Heb “for not that which the man sees.” The translation follows the LXX, which reads, “for not as man sees does God see.” The MT has suffered from homoioteleuton or homoioarcton. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 274.
24 tn Heb “to the eyes.”
25 tn Heb “uncover your ear.”
26 tn Heb “in peace.”
27 sn Beginning with 20:42b, the verse numbers through 21:15 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 20:42b ET = 21:1 HT, 21:1 ET = 21:2 HT, 21:2 ET = 21:3 HT, etc., through 21:15 ET = 21:16 HT. With 22:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
28 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn Heb “runners.”
30 tn Heb “their hand is.”
31 tn Heb “to extend their hand to harm.”
32 tn Cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “bundle”; NLT “treasure pouch.”
33 tn Heb “who has argued the case of my insult from the hand of Nabal.”
34 tn Heb “his servant he has held back from evil, and the evil of Nabal the