1 Samuel 2:30

2:30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I really did say 1  that your house and your ancestor’s house would serve 2  me forever.’ But now the Lord says, ‘May it never be! 3  For I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be cursed!

1 Samuel 7:3

7:3 Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. 4  Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you 5  from the hand of the Philistines.”

1 Samuel 9:6

9:6 But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. 6  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” 7 

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

2 tn Heb “walk about before.”

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

4 tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural; also in the following verse). The words “images of” are supplied for clarity.

sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. The presence of Ashtarot in Israel is a sign of pervasive pagan and idolatrous influences; hence Samuel calls for their removal. See 1 Sam 31:10, where the Philistines deposit the armor of the deceased Saul in the temple of the Ashtarot, and 1 Kgs 11:5, 33; 2 Kgs 23:13, where Solomon is faulted for worshiping the Ashtarot.

5 tn Following imperatives, the jussive verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

6 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

7 tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”