1 Samuel 1:4-5

1:4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he used to give meat portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 1:5 But he would give a double ¹  portion to Hannah, because he especially loved her. ²  Now the Lord had not enabled her to have children. ³ 

1 Samuel 8:6

8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for ⁴  they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord.

1 Samuel 8:15

8:15 He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators ⁵  and his servants.

1 Samuel 9:23

9:23 Samuel said to the cook, “Give me the portion of meat that I gave to you – the one I asked you to keep with you.”

1 Samuel 10:4

10:4 They will ask you how you’re doing and will give you two loaves of bread. You will accept them.

1 Samuel 17:10

17:10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy Israel’s troops this day! Give me a man so we can fight ⁶  each other!”

1 Samuel 17:44

17:44 The Philistine said to David, “Come here to me, so I can give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the field!” ⁷ 

1 Samuel 23:4

23:4 So David asked the Lord once again. But again the Lord replied, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”

1 Samuel 25:5

25:5 he ⁸  sent ten servants, ⁹  saying to them, ¹⁰  “Go up to Carmel to see Nabal and give him greetings in my name. ¹¹ 

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¹ tn The exact sense of the Hebrew word אַפָּיִם (’appayim, “two faces”) is not certain here. It is most likely used with the preceding expression (“one portion of two faces”) to mean a portion double than normally received. Although evidence for this use of the word derives primarily from Aramaic rather than from Hebrew usage, it provides an understanding that fits the context here better than other suggestions for the word do. The meaning “double” is therefore adopted in the present translation. Other possibilities for the meaning of the word include the following: “heavily” (cf. Vulg., tristis) and “worthy” or “choice” (cf. KJV and Targum). Some scholars have followed the LXX here, emending the word to אֶפֶס (’efes) and translating it as “but” or “however.” This seems unnecessary. The translators of the LXX may simply have been struggling to make sense of the word rather than following a Hebrew text that was different from the MT here.

² tn Heb “for Hannah he loved.” Repetition of the proper name would seem redundant in contemporary English, so the pronoun (“her”) has been used here for clarity. The translation also adds the adverb “especially” to clarify the meaning of the text. Without this addition one might get the impression that only Hannah, not Peninnah, was loved by her husband. But the point of the text is that Hannah was his favorite.

³ tn Heb “and the Lord had closed her womb.” So also in v. 6. The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is pertinent to the story.

⁴ tn Heb “when.”

⁵ tn Or “eunuchs” (so NAB); NIV “officials”; KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT “officers.”

⁶ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative verbal form indicates purpose/result here.

⁷ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have “the earth” here, instead of the MT’s “the field.”

⁸ tn Heb “David”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun has been used in the translation.

⁹ tn Or “young men.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and David said to the young men.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and inquire concerning him in my name in regard to peace.”