1 Samuel 9:21

9:21 Saul replied, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of Israel’s tribes, and is not my family clan the smallest of all the tribes of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me in this way?”

1 Samuel 10:25

10:25 Then Samuel talked to the people about how the kingship would work. 1  He wrote it all down on a scroll and set it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away to their homes.

1 Samuel 13:4

13:4 All Israel heard this message, 2  “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel is repulsive 3  to the Philistines!” So the people were summoned to join 4  Saul at Gilgal.

1 Samuel 15:9

15:9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, 5  and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. 6  They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised 7  and worthless.

1 Samuel 22:14

22:14 Ahimelech replied to the king, “Who among all your servants is faithful like David? He is the king’s son-in-law, the leader of your bodyguard, and honored in your house!

1 tn Heb “the regulation of the kingship.” This probably refers to the regulations pertaining to kingship given to Moses (see Deut 17:14-20).

2 tn The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

3 tn Heb “stinks.” The figurative language indicates that Israel had become repulsive to the Philistines.

4 tn Heb “were summoned after.”

5 tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. We should probably read וְהַמַּשְׂמַנִּים (vÿhammasmannim, “the fat ones”) rather than the MT וְהַמִּשְׂנִים (vÿhammisnim, “the second ones”). However, if the MT is retained, the sense may be as the Jewish commentator Kimchi supposed: the second-born young, thought to be better than the firstlings. (For discussion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 123-24.)

6 tn Heb “good.”

7 tc The MT has here the very odd form נְמִבְזָה (nÿmivzah), but this is apparently due to a scribal error. The translation follows instead the Niphal participle נִבְזָה (nivzah).