1 Samuel 14:9
14:9 If they say to us, ‘Stay put until we approach you,’ we will stay 1 right there and not go up to them.
1 Samuel 14:30
14:30 Certainly if the army had eaten some of the enemies’ provisions that they came across today, would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”
1 Samuel 15:14
15:14 Samuel replied, “If that is the case, 2 then what is this sound of sheep in my ears and the sound of cattle that I hear?”
1 Samuel 25:22
25:22 God will severely punish David, 3 if I leave alive until morning even one male 4 from all those who belong to him!”
1 tn Heb “stand.”
2 tn The words “if that is the case” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tc Heb “Thus God will do to the enemies of David and thus he will add.” Most of the Old Greek ms tradition has simply “David,” with no reference to his enemies. In OT imprecations such as the one found in v. 22 it is common for the speaker to direct malediction toward himself as an indication of the seriousness with which he regards the matter at hand. In other words, the speaker invites on himself dire consequences if he fails to fulfill the matter expressed in the oath. However, in the situation alluded to in v. 22 the threat actually does not come to fruition due to the effectiveness of Abigail’s appeal to David in behalf of her husband Nabal. Instead, David is placated through Abigail’s intervention. It therefore seems likely that the reference to “the enemies of David” in the MT of v. 22 is the result of a scribal attempt to deliver David from the implied consequences of this oath. The present translation follows the LXX rather than the MT here.
4 tn Heb “one who urinates against a wall” (also in v. 34); KJV “any that pisseth against the wall.”