1 Samuel 1:5

1:5 But he would give a double¹ portion to Hannah, because he especially loved her.² Now the Lord had not enabled her to have children.³

1 Samuel 4:7

4:7 The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp.⁴ They said, “Too bad for⁵ us! We’ve never seen anything like this!

1 Samuel 7:17

7:17 Then he would return to Ramah, because his home was there. He also judged⁶ Israel there and built an altar to the Lord there.

1 Samuel 8:18

8:18 In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.”⁷

1 Samuel 12:22

12:22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation.⁸ The Lord was pleased to make you his own people.

1 Samuel 13:6

13:6 The men of Israel realized they had a problem because their army was hard pressed. So the army hid in caves, thickets, cliffs, strongholds,⁹ and cisterns.

1 Samuel 20:17

20:17 Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life.¹⁰

1 Samuel 23:10

23:10 Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, your servant has clearly heard that Saul is planning¹¹ to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me.

¹tn 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.

²tn 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.

³tn 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.

⁴tn The Hebrew text has a direct quote, “because they said, ‘Gods have come to the camp.’” Even though the verb translated “have come” is singular, the following subject should be taken as plural (“gods”), as v. 8 indicates. Some emend the verb to a plural form.

⁵tn Traditionally “woe to.” They thought disaster was imminent.

⁶tn Or perhaps “settled disputes for” (cf. NLT “would hear cases there”; NRSV “administered justice there”).

⁷tc The LXX adds “because you have chosen for yourselves a king.”

⁸tn Heb “on account of his great name.”

⁹tn Or perhaps “vaults.” This rare term also occurs in Judg 9:46, 49. Cf. KJV “high places”; ASV “coverts”; NAB “caverns”; NASB “cellars”; NIV, NCV, TEV “pits”; NRSV, NLT “tombs.”

¹⁰tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”

¹¹tn Heb “seeking.”