¹ tn Heb “why is your heart displeased?”

² sn Like the number seven, the number ten is sometimes used in the OT as an ideal number (see, for example, Dan 1:20, Zech 8:23).

³ tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”

⁴ tn Heb “establish his word.” This apparently refers to the promise inherent in Eli’s priestly blessing (see v. 17).

⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”

⁶ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

⁷ tn Heb “to your father’s” (also in vv. 28, 30).

⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “men.”

¹¹ tn Heb “for his hand is severe upon.”

¹² tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).

¹³ tn Heb “Listen to the voice of the people, to all which they say to you.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “became lost.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “and arise, go.”

¹⁶ 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.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “your word is good.”

¹⁸ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading לֹא (lo’, “not”) rather than the MT לוֹ (lo; “to him”). Some witnesses combine the variants, resulting in a conflated text. For example, a few medieval Hebrew mss have לֹא לוֹ (lo lo’; “to him, ‘No.’”). A few others have לֹא לִי (li lo’; “to me, ‘No.’”).

¹⁹ tn Heb “for we have added to all our sins an evil [thing] by asking for ourselves a king.”

²⁰ tn Heb “you have done all this evil.”

²¹ tn Heb “dispersed from upon me.”

²² tn Or “kept.”

²³ tn Heb “commanded.”

²⁴ tn Or “the servant who was carrying his military equipment” (likewise in vv. 6, 7, 12, 13, 14).

²⁵ tn Heb “and they mustered the troops, and look!”

²⁶ tn Heb “You have acted deceptively.” In this context the verb refers to violating an agreement, in this case the dietary and sacrificial regulations of the Mosaic law. The verb form is second masculine plural; apparently Saul here addresses those who are eating the animals.

²⁷ tn Heb “and there was no one answering from all the army.”

²⁸ tn Heb “Look, I, I will die.” Apparently Jonathan is acquiescing to his anticipated fate of death. However, the words may be taken as sarcastic (“Here I am about to die!”) or as a question, “Must I now die?” (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

²⁹ tn Heb “they brought them.”

³⁰ tn Heb “anointed.”

³¹ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

³² tn Heb “journey.”

³³ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

³⁴ tn Heb “look.”

³⁵ tn Heb “listening.”

³⁶ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

³⁷ tn Heb “in your hand.”

³⁸ tn Heb “said.”

³⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

⁴⁰ tc In the MT the verb is singular (“he said”), but the translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss and ancient versions in reading the plural (“they said”).

⁴¹ tn Or “Go, and may the Lord be with you” (so NASB, NCV, NRSV).

⁴² tn Heb “Who are my relatives, the clan of my father?” The term חַי (khay), traditionally understood as “my life,” is here a rare word meaning “family, kinfolk” (see HALOT 309 s.v. III חַי). The phrase “clan of my father” may be a scribal gloss explaining the referent of this rare word.

⁴³ tn Heb “he” (also in v. 23). the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).

⁴⁶ tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”

⁴⁷ tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

⁴⁸ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss include the words “his son” here.

⁴⁹ tn Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.

⁵⁰ tn Heb “trembled to meet.”

⁵¹ tn Heb “go forth.”

⁵² 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.

⁵³ tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”

⁵⁴ tc The number is confused in the Greek ms tradition. The LXX, with the exception of the Lucianic recension, has the number 305. The Lucianic recension, along with a couple of Old Latin mss, has the number 350.

⁵⁵ tc The translation follows the LXX, which reads “I am guilty,” rather than the MT, which has “I have turned.”

⁵⁶ tn The MT reading (“God has alienated him into my hand”) in v. 7 is a difficult and uncommon idiom. The use of this verb in Jer 19:4 is somewhat parallel, but not entirely so. Many scholars have therefore suspected a textual problem here, emending the word נִכַּר (nikkar, “alienated”) to סִכַּר (sikkar, “he has shut up [i.e., delivered]”). This is the idea reflected in the translations of the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate, although it is not entirely clear whether they are reading something different from the MT or are simply paraphrasing what for them too may have been a difficult text. The LXX has “God has sold him into my hands,” apparently reading מַכַר (makar, “sold”) for MT’s נִכַּר. The present translation is a rather free interpretation.

⁵⁷ tn Heb “with two gates and a bar.” Since in English “bar” could be understood as a saloon, it has been translated as an attributive: “two barred gates.”

⁵⁸ tn Heb “up.”

⁵⁹ tn Heb “your voice.”

⁶⁰ tn Heb “I have lifted up your face.”

⁶¹ tn Here “the spear” almost certainly refers to Saul’s own spear, which according to the previous verse was stuck into the ground beside him as he slept. This is reflected in a number of English versions: TEV, CEV “his own spear”; NLT “that spear.” Cf. NIV, NCV “my spear,” in which case Abishai refers to his own spear rather than Saul’s, but this is unlikely since (1) Abishai would probably not have carried a spear along since such a weapon would be unwieldy when sneaking into the enemy camp; and (2) this would not explain the mention of Saul’s own spear stuck in the ground beside him in the previous verse.

⁶² tn Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”

⁶³ tn Heb “their camps.”

⁶⁴ tc The translation follows the LXX (εἰς πόλεμον, eis polemon) and a Qumran ms מלחמה במלחמה ([m]lkhmh) bammilkhamah (“in the battle”) rather than the MT’s בַמַּחֲנֶה (bammakhaneh, “in the camp”; cf. NASB). While the MT reading is not impossible here, and although admittedly it is the harder reading, the variant fits the context better. The MT can be explained as a scribal error caused in part by the earlier occurrence of “camp” in this verse.

⁶⁵ tn Heb “the guardian for my head.”

⁶⁶ tn Heb “all the days.”

⁶⁷ tn Heb “Use divination for me with the ritual pit and bring up for me the one whom I say to you.”

⁶⁸ tn Heb “how he has cut off.”

⁶⁹ tn See the note at v. 3.

⁷⁰ tn Heb “my life.”

⁷¹ tn Heb “gods.” The modifying participle (translated “coming up”) is plural, suggesting that underworld spirits are the referent. But in the following verse Saul understands the plural word to refer to a singular being. The reference is to the spirit of Samuel.

⁷² tn Heb “listened to your voice.”

⁷³ tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”

⁷⁴ tn Heb “I know that you are good in my eyes.”

⁷⁵ tc This clause is difficult in the MT. The present translation accepts the text as found in the MT and understands this clause to be elliptical, with an understood verb such as “look” or “consider.” On the other hand, the LXX seems to reflect a slightly different Hebrew text, reading “after” where the MT has “my brothers.” The Greek translation yields the following translation: “You should not do this after the Lord has delivered us.” Although the Greek reading should be taken seriously, it seems better to follow the MT here.