1 Samuel 4:3

4:3 When the army ¹  came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by ²  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 ³  from the hand of our enemies.

1 Samuel 12:10

12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ⁴  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ⁵  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ⁶ 

1 Samuel 14:24

Jonathan Violates Saul’s Oath

14:24 Now the men of Israel were hard pressed that day, for Saul had made the army agree to this oath: “Cursed be the man who eats food before evening! I will get my vengeance on my enemies!” So no one in the army ate anything.

1 Samuel 18:25

18:25 Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his ⁷  enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)

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 25:29

25:29 When someone sets out to chase you and to take your life, the life of my lord will be wrapped securely in the bag ⁸  of the living by the Lord your God. But he will sling away the lives of your enemies from the sling’s pocket!

1 Samuel 29:8

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?”

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¹ tn Or “people.”

² tn Heb “before.”

³ 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.”

⁴ tn Heb “and said.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

⁷ tn Heb “the king’s.”

⁸ tn Cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “bundle”; NLT “treasure pouch.”