¹ tn The exact sense of the Hebrew word אַפָּיִם (’appayim, “two faces”) is not certain here. It is most likely used with the preceding expression (“one portion of two faces”) to mean a portion double than normally received. Although evidence for this use of the word derives primarily from Aramaic rather than from Hebrew usage, it provides an understanding that fits the context here better than other suggestions for the word do. The meaning “double” is therefore adopted in the present translation. Other possibilities for the meaning of the word include the following: “heavily” (cf. Vulg., tristis) and “worthy” or “choice” (cf. KJV and Targum). Some scholars have followed the LXX here, emending the word to אֶפֶס (’efes) and translating it as “but” or “however.” This seems unnecessary. The translators of the LXX may simply have been struggling to make sense of the word rather than following a Hebrew text that was different from the MT here.

² tn Heb “for Hannah he loved.” Repetition of the proper name would seem redundant in contemporary English, so the pronoun (“her”) has been used here for clarity. The translation also adds the adverb “especially” to clarify the meaning of the text. Without this addition one might get the impression that only Hannah, not Peninnah, was loved by her husband. But the point of the text is that Hannah was his favorite.

³ tn Heb “and the Lord had closed her womb.” So also in v. 6. The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is pertinent to the story.

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

⁶ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

⁷ tn Or perhaps “settled disputes for” (cf. NLT “would hear cases there”; NRSV “administered justice there”).

⁸ tn Heb “the man of the space between the two [armies].” See v. 23.

⁹ tc Heb “his height was six cubits and a span” (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV). A cubit was approximately eighteen inches, a span nine inches. So, according to the Hebrew tradition, Goliath was about nine feet, nine inches tall (cf. NIV, CEV, NLT “over nine feet”; NCV “nine feet, four inches”; TEV “nearly 3 metres”). However, some Greek witnesses, Josephus, and a manuscript of 1 Samuel from Qumran read “four cubits and a span” here, that is, about six feet, nine inches (cf. NAB “six and a half feet”). This seems more reasonable; it is likely that Goliath’s height was exaggerated as the story was retold. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 286, 291.

¹⁰ tn Heb “and he was before him as before.”

¹¹ tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”

¹² tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.

¹³ tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.

¹⁴ tn Heb “know and see.” The expression is a hendiadys. See also v. 23.

¹⁵ tn Heb “his place where his foot is.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “according to all which he spoke, the good concerning you.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “appoint.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “saying.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “he really stinks.” The expression is used figuratively here to describe the rejection and ostracism that David had experienced as a result of Saul’s hatred of him.

²⁰ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss lack the preposition “in.”

²¹ tn Heb “permanently.”