4:3 When the army 2 came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by 3 the Philistines? Let’s take with us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. When it is with us, it will save us 4 from the hand of our enemies.
18:6 When the men 6 arrived after David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women from all the cities of Israel came out singing and dancing to meet King Saul. They were happy as they played their tambourines and three-stringed instruments. 7
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 8 serving 9 with me in the army. 10 I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion 11 of the leaders, you are not reliable. 12
29:8 But David said to Achish, “What have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day that I first came into your presence until the present time, that I shouldn’t go and fight the enemies of my lord the king?”
31:7 When the men of Israel who were in the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.
1 tn Heb “to all Israel.”
2 tn Or “people.”
3 tn Heb “before.”
4 tn Heb “and it will come in our midst and it will save.” After the cohortative (see “let’s take”), the prefixed verbal forms with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose or result. The translation understands the ark to be the subject of the third masculine singular verbs, although it is possible to understand the Lord as the subject. In the latter case, one should translate, “when he is with us, he will save us.”
5 tc The translation follows the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate which assume a reading אֶסִפְךָ (’esfÿka, “I sweep you away,” from the root ספה [sfh]) rather than the MT אֹסִפְךָ (’osifÿka, “I am gathering you,” from the root אסף[’sf]).
6 tn Heb “them.” The masculine plural pronoun apparently refers to the returning soldiers.
7 tn Heb “with tambourines, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments.”
8 tn Heb “it is good in my eyes.” Cf. v. 7.
9 tn Heb “your going forth and your coming in.” The expression is a merism.
10 tn Heb “camp.”
11 tn Heb “eyes.”
12 tn Heb “good.”