1 Samuel 14:45

14:45 But the army said to Saul, “Should Jonathan, who won this great victory in Israel, die? May it never be! As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of his head will fall to the ground! For it is with the help of God that he has acted today.” So the army rescued Jonathan from death. ¹ 

1 Samuel 17:55

17:55 ² Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”

1 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Taking an oath, David again ³  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ⁴  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ⁵  ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!”

1 Samuel 20:21

20:21 When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; ⁶  get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem.

1 Samuel 25:34

25:34 Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives – he who has prevented me from harming you – if you had not come so quickly to meet me, by morning’s light not even one male belonging to Nabal would have remained alive!”

1 Samuel 26:16

26:16 This failure on your part isn’t good! ⁷  As surely as the Lord lives, you people who have not protected your lord, the Lord’s chosen one, are as good as dead! ⁸  Now look where the king’s spear and the jug of water that was by his head are!”

1 Samuel 29:6

29:6 So Achish summoned David and said to him, “As surely as the Lord lives, you are an honest man, and I am glad to have you ⁹  serving ¹⁰  with me in the army. ¹¹  I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion ¹²  of the leaders, you are not reliable. ¹³ 

---

¹ tn Heb “and he did not die.”

² tc Most LXX mss lack 17:55–18:5.

³ tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”

⁴ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

⁵ tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.

⁶ tn Heb “from you and here.”

⁷ tn Heb “Not good [is] this thing which you have done.”

⁸ tn Heb “you are sons of death.”

⁹ tn Heb “it is good in my eyes.” Cf. v. 7.

¹⁰ tn Heb “your going forth and your coming in.” The expression is a merism.

¹¹ tn Heb “camp.”

¹² tn Heb “eyes.”

¹³ tn Heb “good.”