Discovery Box1 Samuel 5:3 
Context5:3 When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, 1 Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.
1 Samuel 8:12
Context8:12 He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, 2 as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment.
1 Samuel 14:15
Context14:15 Then fear overwhelmed 3 those who were in the camp, those who were in the field, all the army in the garrison, and the raiding bands. They trembled and the ground shook. This fear was caused by God. 4
1 Samuel 17:49
Context17:49 David reached his hand into the bag and took out a stone. He slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank deeply into his forehead, and he fell down with his face to the ground.
1 Samuel 20:41
Context20:41 When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, 5 knelt 6 with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David.
1 Samuel 24:8
Context24:8 Afterward David got up and went out of the cave. He called out after Saul, “My lord, O king!” When Saul looked behind him, David kneeled down and bowed with his face to the ground.
1 Samuel 26:7-8
Context26:7 So David and Abishai approached the army at night and found Saul lying asleep in the entrenchment with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the army were lying all around him. 26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me drive the spear 7 right through him into the ground with one swift jab! 8 A second jab won’t be necessary!”
1 Samuel 28:13-14
Context28:13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What have you seen?” The woman replied to Saul, “I have seen one like a god 9 coming up from the ground!” 28:14 He said to her, “What about his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!”
Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down.
1 Samuel 28:20
Context28:20 Saul quickly fell full length on the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words. He was completely drained of energy, 10 not having eaten anything 11 all that day and night.
1 Samuel 28:23
Context28:23 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 tc The LXX adds “they entered the temple of Dagon and saw.”
2 tc The numbers of v. 12 are confused in the Greek and Syriac versions. For “fifties” the LXX has “hundreds.” The Syriac Peshitta has “heads of thousands and heads of hundreds and heads of fifties and heads of tens,” perhaps reflecting influence from Deut 1:15.
3 tn Heb “fell upon.”
4 tn Heb “and it was by the fear of God.” The translation understands this to mean that God was the source or cause of the fear experienced by the Philistines. This seems to be the most straightforward reading of the sentence. It is possible, however, that the word “God” functions here simply to intensify the accompanying word “fear,” in which one might translate “a very great fear” (cf. NAB, NRSV). It is clear that on some occasions that the divine name carries such a superlative nuance. For examples see Joüon 2:525 §141.n.
5 tc The translation follows the LXX in reading “the mound,” rather than the MT’s “the south.” It is hard to see what meaning the MT reading “from beside the south” would have as it stands, since such a location lacks specificity. The NIV treats it as an elliptical expression, rendering the phrase as “from the south side of the stone (rock NCV).” This is perhaps possible, but it seems better to follow the LXX rather than the MT here.
6 tn Heb “fell.”
7 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.
8 tn Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”
9 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.
10 tn Heb “also there was no strength in him.”
11 tn Heb “food.”
12 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew
13 tn Heb “he listened to their voice.”
