1 Samuel 9:3

9:3 The donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off, ¹  so Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go ²  look for the donkeys.” ³ 

1 Samuel 12:19

12:19 All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God on behalf of us – your servants – so we won’t die, for we have added to all our sins by asking for a king.” ⁴ 

1 Samuel 18:5

18:5 On every mission on which Saul sent him, David achieved success. So Saul appointed him over the men of war. This pleased not only all the army, but also Saul’s servants. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 18:23

18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately ⁶  to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”

1 Samuel 18:30

18:30 ⁷  Then the leaders of the Philistines would march out, and as often as they did so, David achieved more success than all of Saul’s servants. His name was held in high esteem.

1 Samuel 21:7

21:7 (One of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite, who was in charge of Saul’s shepherds.)

1 Samuel 22:7

22:7 Saul said to his servants who were stationed around him, “Listen up, you Benjaminites! Is Jesse’s son giving fields and vineyards to all of you? Or is he making all of you ⁸  commanders and officers? ⁹ 

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 Samuel 25:25

25:25 My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man Nabal. He simply lives up to his name! His name means ‘fool,’ and he is indeed foolish! ¹⁰  But I, your servant, did not see the servants my lord sent. ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 28:23

28:23 But he refused, saying, “I won’t eat!” Both his servants and the woman urged ¹²  him to eat, so he gave in. ¹³  He got up from the ground and sat down on the bed.

1 Samuel 29:10

29:10 So get up early in the morning along with the servants of your lord who have come with you. ¹⁴  When you get up early in the morning, as soon as it is light enough to see, leave.” ¹⁵ 

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¹ tn Heb “became lost.”

² tn Heb “and arise, go.”

³ tc The Syriac Peshitta includes the following words: “So Saul arose and went out. He took with him one of the boys and went out to look for his father’s donkeys.”

⁴ tn Heb “for we have added to all our sins an evil [thing] by asking for ourselves a king.”

⁵ tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of all the people and also in the eyes of the servants of Saul.”

⁶ tn Heb “in the ears of.”

⁷ tc Verse 30 is absent in most LXX mss.

⁸ tc The MT has “to all of you.” If this reading is correct, we have here an example of a prepositional phrase functioning as the equivalent of a dative of advantage, which is not impossible from a grammatical point of view. However, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate all have “and.” A conjunction rather than a preposition should probably be read on the front of this phrase.

⁹ tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and foolishness is with him.”

¹¹ tn Heb “my lord’s servants, whom you sent.”

¹² tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וַיִּפְצְרוּ (vayyiftseru, “and they pressed”; from the root פצר, psr) rather than the MT’s וַיִּפְרְצוּ (vayyifretsu, “and they broke forth”; from the root פרצ, prs).

¹³ tn Heb “he listened to their voice.”

¹⁴ tc The LXX and a couple of Old Latin mss include here the following words: “and you shall go to the place that I have appointed you. Don’t place an evil thing in your heart, for you are good before me.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “when you get up early in the morning and you have light, go.”