1 Samuel 4:7

4:7 The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. ¹  They said, “Too bad for ²  us! We’ve never seen anything like this!

1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ³ Nahash ⁴  the Ammonite marched ⁵  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

1 Samuel 11:10

11:10 The men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you ⁶  and you can do with us whatever you wish.” ⁷ 

1 Samuel 11:12

Saul Is Established as King

11:12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who were the ones asking, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Hand over those men so we may execute them!”

1 Samuel 17:10

17:10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy Israel’s troops this day! Give me a man so we can fight ⁸  each other!”

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¹ tn The Hebrew text has a direct quote, “because they said, ‘Gods have come to the camp.’” Even though the verb translated “have come” is singular, the following subject should be taken as plural (“gods”), as v. 8 indicates. Some emend the verb to a plural form.

² tn Traditionally “woe to.” They thought disaster was imminent.

³ tc 4QSam^a and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.

⁴ sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

⁵ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”

⁶ tn The second masculine plural forms in this quotation indicate that Nahash and his army are addressed.

⁷ tn Heb “according to all that is good in your eyes.”

⁸ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative verbal form indicates purpose/result here.