1:9 On one occasion in Shiloh, after they had finished eating and drinking, Hannah got up. 1 (Now at the time Eli the priest was sitting in his chair 2 by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.)
14:4 Now there was a steep cliff on each side of the pass through which Jonathan intended to go to reach the Philistine garrison. One cliff was named Bozez, the other Seneh.
14:33 Now it was reported to Saul, “Look, the army is sinning against the Lord by eating even the blood.” He said, “All of you have broken the covenant! 15 Roll a large stone over here to me.”
17:12 17 Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem 18 in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. 19
18:10 The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul and he prophesied within his house. Now David was playing the lyre 20 that day. There was a spear in Saul’s hand,
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.”
19:17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped!” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away or else I will kill you!’” 21
19:18 Now David had run away and escaped. He went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
20:5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. 22 You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now.
23:24 So they left and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon.
Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave.
28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. 36 In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums 37 and magicians 38 from the land.
1 tc The LXX adds “and stood before the Lord,” but this is probably a textual expansion due to the terseness of the statement in the Hebrew text.
2 tn Or perhaps, “on his throne.” See Joüon 2:506-7 §137.f.
3 tn Heb “the habit of the priests with the people [was this].”
4 sn The Hebrew word occurs only twice in the OT, here and again in v. 14. Its exact meaning is not entirely clear, although from the context it appears to be a sacrificial tool used for retrieving things from boiling water.
5 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
6 tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).
7 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew
8 tn Or perhaps, “his oxen.” On this use of the definite article see Joüon 2:506-7 §137.f.
9 tn Heb “the matters of.”
10 tn The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “stinks.” The figurative language indicates that Israel had become repulsive to the Philistines.
12 tn Heb “were summoned after.”
13 tn Heb “said.”
14 tn Or “I forced myself” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, CEV); NAB “So in my anxiety I offered”; NIV “I felt compelled.”
15 tn Heb “You have acted deceptively.” In this context the verb refers to violating an agreement, in this case the dietary and sacrificial regulations of the Mosaic law. The verb form is second masculine plural; apparently Saul here addresses those who are eating the animals.
16 tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).
17 tc Some
18 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
19 tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”
20 tn The Hebrew text adds here “with his hand.”
21 tn Heb “Send me away! Why should I kill you?” The question has the force of a threat in this context. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 325, 26.
22 tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
23 tn Heb “all the days that.”
24 tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
25 tn Heb “a son of death.”
26 tn Heb “to cover his feet,” an idiom (euphemism) for relieving oneself (cf. NAB “to ease nature”).
27 tn Heb “by the
28 tn Heb “cut off.”
29 tn Heb “all his house” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “his whole family.”
30 tn Heb “he is a son of worthlessness.”
31 tn Heb “said.”
32 tn Here “the spear” almost certainly refers to Saul’s own spear, which according to the previous verse was stuck into the ground beside him as he slept. This is reflected in a number of English versions: TEV, CEV “his own spear”; NLT “that spear.” Cf. NIV, NCV “my spear,” in which case Abishai refers to his own spear rather than Saul’s, but this is unlikely since (1) Abishai would probably not have carried a spear along since such a weapon would be unwieldy when sneaking into the enemy camp; and (2) this would not explain the mention of Saul’s own spear stuck in the ground beside him in the previous verse.
33 tn Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”
34 tn Heb “the guardian for my head.”
35 tn Heb “all the days.”
36 tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”
37 tn The Hebrew term translated “mediums” actually refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits (see 2 Kgs 21:6). In v. 7 the witch of Endor is called the owner of a ritual pit. See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401. Here the term refers by metonymy to the owner of such a pit (see H. A. Hoffner, TDOT 1:133).
38 sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.