1 Samuel 14:3
14:3 Now Ahijah was carrying 1 an ephod. He was the son of Ahitub, who was the brother of Ichabod and a son of Phineas, son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh. The army was unaware that Jonathan had left.
1 Samuel 14:18
14:18 So Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ephod,” 2 for he was at that time wearing the ephod. 3
1 Samuel 14:36-37
14:36 Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines at night; we will rout 4 them until the break of day. 5 We won’t leave any of them alive!” 6 They replied, “Do whatever seems best to you.” 7 But the priest said, “Let’s approach God here.”
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 tn Heb “bearing.” Many English versions understand this verb to mean “wearing” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT).
2 tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v.19. This reading is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, TEV, NLT).
3 tc Heb “for the ark of God was in that day, and the sons of Israel.” The translation follows the text of some Greek manuscripts. See the previous note.
4 tn Heb “plunder.”
5 tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”
6 tn Heb “and there will not be left among them a man.”
7 tn Heb “all that is good in your eyes.” So also in v. 40.