1 Samuel 2:25

2:25 If a man sins against a man, one may appeal to God on his behalf. But if a man sins against the Lord, who then will intercede for him?” But Eli’s sons ¹  would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided ²  to kill them.

1 Samuel 2:30

2:30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say ³  that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve ⁴  me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! ⁵  For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed!

1 Samuel 12:10

12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ⁶  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ⁷  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ⁸ 

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. ⁹ 

1 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Goliath ¹⁰  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ¹¹  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ¹²  for yourselves a man so he may come down ¹³  to me!

1 Samuel 24:6

24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, ¹⁴  by extending my hand against him. After all, ¹⁵  he is the Lord’s chosen one.” ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 25:26

25:26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, it is the Lord who has kept you from shedding blood and taking matters into your own hands. Now may your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord be like Nabal.

1 Samuel 30:22

30:22 But all the evil and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Since they didn’t go with us, ¹⁷  we won’t give them any of the loot we retrieved! They may take only their wives and children. Let them lead them away and be gone!”

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¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Eli’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “desired.”

³ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

⁴ tn Heb “walk about before.”

⁵ tn Heb “may it be far removed from me.”

⁶ tn Heb “and said.”

⁷ tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.

sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in 7:3.

⁸ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

⁹ tn Heb “and he did not die.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

¹² tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.

¹³ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

¹⁴ tn Heb “anointed.”

¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “anointed.”

¹⁷ tc Heb “with me.” The singular is used rather than the plural because the group is being treated as a singular entity, in keeping with Hebrew idiom. It is not necessary to read “with us,” rather than the MT “with me,” although the plural can be found here in a few medieval Hebrew mss. See also the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate, although these versions may simply reflect an understanding of the idiom as found in the MT rather than a different textual reading.