1 Samuel 4:2

4:2 The Philistines arranged their forces to fight ¹  Israel. As the battle spread out, ²  Israel was defeated by ³  the Philistines, who ⁴  killed about four thousand men in the battle line in the field.

1 Samuel 11:5

11:5 Now Saul was walking behind the ⁵  oxen as he came from the field. Saul asked, “What has happened to the people? Why are they weeping?” So they told him about ⁶  the men of Jabesh.

1 Samuel 14:15

14:15 Then fear overwhelmed ⁷  those who were in the camp, those who were in the field, all the army in the garrison, and the raiding bands. They trembled and the ground shook. This fear was caused by God. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 19:3

19:3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. I will speak about you to my father. When I find out what the problem is, ⁹  I will let you know.”

1 Samuel 20:5

20:5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. ¹⁰  You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now.

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¹ tn Heb “to meet.”

² tn The MT has וַתִּטֹּשׁ (vattittosh), from the root נטשׁ (ntsh). This verb normally means “to leave,” “to forsake,” or “to permit,” but such an idea does not fit this context very well. Many scholars have suspected that the text originally read either וַתֵּט (vattet, “and it spread out”), from the root נטה (nth), or וַתִּקֶשׁ (vattiqesh, “and it grew fierce”), from the root קשׂה (qsh). The former suggestion is apparently supported by the LXX ἔκλινεν (eklinen, “it inclined”) and is adopted in the translation.

³ tn Heb “before.”

⁴ tn Heb “the Philistines, and they killed.” The pronoun “they” has been translated as a relative pronoun (“who”) to make it clear to the English reader that the Philistines were the ones who did the killing.

⁵ tn Or perhaps, “his oxen.” On this use of the definite article see Joüon 2:506-7 §137.f.

⁶ tn Heb “the matters of.”

⁷ tn Heb “fell upon.”

⁸ tn Heb “and it was by the fear of God.” The translation understands this to mean that God was the source or cause of the fear experienced by the Philistines. This seems to be the most straightforward reading of the sentence. It is possible, however, that the word “God” functions here simply to intensify the accompanying word “fear,” in which one might translate “a very great fear” (cf. NAB, NRSV). It is clear that on some occasions that the divine name carries such a superlative nuance. For examples see Joüon 2:525 §141.n.

⁹ tn Heb “when I see.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.