1 Samuel 16:4

16:4 Samuel did what the Lord told him. ¹  When he arrived in Bethlehem, ²  the elders of the city were afraid to meet him. They ³  said, “Do you come in peace?”

1 Samuel 16:18

16:18 One of his attendants replied, ⁴  “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem ⁵  who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior ⁶  and is articulate ⁷  and handsome, ⁸  for the Lord is with him.”

1 Samuel 17:12

17:12 ⁹ Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem ¹⁰  in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 20:6

20:6 If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go ¹²  to his city Bethlehem, ¹³  for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’

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¹ tn Heb “said.”

² map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

³ tc In the MT the verb is singular (“he said”), but the translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss and ancient versions in reading the plural (“they said”).

⁴ tn Heb “answered and said.”

⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

⁶ tn Heb “mighty man of valor and a man of war.”

⁷ tn Heb “discerning of word.”

⁸ tn Heb “a man of form.”

⁹ tc Some mss of the LXX lack vv. 12-31.

¹⁰ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

¹¹ tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”

¹² tn Heb “to run.”

¹³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.