1 Samuel 2:5

2:5 Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food,

but the hungry no longer lack.

Even ¹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ² 

but the one with many children withers away. ³ 

1 Samuel 3:3

3:3 and the lamp of God had not yet been extinguished. Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord as well; the ark of God was also there.

1 Samuel 5:9

5:9 But after it had been moved the Lord attacked ⁴  that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city ⁵  with sores. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 8:12

8:12 He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, ⁷  as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment.

1 Samuel 12:14

12:14 If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him ⁸  and not rebelling against what he says, ⁹  and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well. ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 15:24

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ¹¹  and what you said as well. ¹²  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ¹³ 

1 Samuel 17:12

17:12 ¹⁴ Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem ¹⁵  in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. ¹⁶ 

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¹ tc Against BHS but with the MT, the preposition (עַד, ’ad) should be taken with what follows rather than with what precedes. For this sense of the preposition see Job 25:5.

² sn The number seven is used here in an ideal sense. Elsewhere in the OT having seven children is evidence of fertility as a result of God’s blessing on the family. See, for example, Jer 15:9, Ruth 4:15.

³ tn Or “languishes.”

⁴ tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was against the city.”

⁵ tn Heb “and he struck the men of the city from small and to great.”

⁶ tn See the note on this term in v. 6. Cf. KJV “and they had emerods in their secret parts.”

⁷ tc The numbers of v. 12 are confused in the Greek and Syriac versions. For “fifties” the LXX has “hundreds.” The Syriac Peshitta has “heads of thousands and heads of hundreds and heads of fifties and heads of tens,” perhaps reflecting influence from Deut 1:15.

⁸ tn Heb “and you listen to his voice.”

⁹ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” So also in v. 15.

¹⁰ tn The words “all will be well” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹¹ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

¹² tn Heb “and your words.”

¹³ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

¹⁴ tc Some mss of the LXX lack vv. 12-31.

¹⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

¹⁶ tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”