Discovery Box1 Samuel 9:2 
Context9:2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.
1 Samuel 9:5
Context9:5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come on, let’s head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!”
1 Samuel 9:8
Context9:8 The servant went on to answer Saul, “Look, I happen to have in my hand a quarter shekel 1 of silver. I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us where we should go.” 2
1 Samuel 9:10
Context9:10 So Saul said to his servant, “That’s a good idea! 3 Come on. Let’s go.” So they went to the town where the man of God was.
1 Samuel 9:21-22
Context9:21 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?”
9:22 Then Samuel brought 4 Saul and his servant into the room and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited. There were about thirty people present.
1 Samuel 10:11
Context10:11 When everyone who had known him previously saw him prophesying with the prophets, the people all asked one another, “What on earth has happened to the son of Kish? Does even Saul belong with the prophets?”
1 Samuel 11:11
Context11:11 The next day Saul placed the people in three groups. They went to the Ammonite camp during the morning watch and struck them 5 down until the hottest part of the day. The survivors scattered; no two of them remained together.
1 Samuel 13:7
Context13:7 Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan River 6 to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul stayed at Gilgal; the entire army that was with him was terrified.
1 Samuel 13:11
Context13:11 But Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the army had started to abandon me 7 and that you didn’t come at the appointed time and that the Philistines had assembled at Micmash,
1 Samuel 13:13
Context13:13 Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed 8 the commandment that the Lord your God gave 9 you. Had you done that, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever!
1 Samuel 13:15
Context13:15 Then Samuel set out and went up from Gilgal 10 to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. 11 Saul mustered the army that remained with him; there were about six hundred men.
1 Samuel 14:1
Context14:1 Then one day Jonathan son of Saul said to his armor bearer, 12 “Come on, let’s go over to the Philistine garrison that is opposite us.” But he did not let his father know.
1 Samuel 14:16-17
Context14:16 Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin 13 looked on 14 as the crowd of soldiers seemed to melt away first in one direction and then in another. 15 14:17 So Saul said to the army that was with him, “Muster the troops and see who is no longer with us.” When they mustered the troops, 16 Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.
1 Samuel 14:33
Context14:33 Now it was reported to Saul, “Look, the army is sinning against the Lord by eating even the blood.” He said, “All of you have broken the covenant! 17 Roll a large stone over here to me.”
1 Samuel 14:40
Context14:40 Then he said to all Israel, “You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.” The army replied to Saul, “Do whatever you think is best.”
1 Samuel 14:43
Context14:43 So Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, “I used the end of the staff that was in my hand to taste a little honey. I must die!” 18
1 Samuel 14:47
Context14:47 After Saul had secured his royal position over Israel, he fought against all their 19 enemies on all sides – the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. In every direction that he turned he was victorious. 20
1 Samuel 15:11
Context15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I told him to do.” Samuel became angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
1 Samuel 15:15
Context15:15 Saul said, “They were brought 21 from the Amalekites; the army spared the best of the flocks and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord our God. But everything else we slaughtered.”
1 Samuel 15:20
Context15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed 22 the Lord! I went on the campaign 23 the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.
1 Samuel 15:24
Context15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded 24 and what you said as well. 25 For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. 26
1 Samuel 15:26
Context15:26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel!”
1 Samuel 15:30
Context15:30 Saul 27 again replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Go back with me so I may worship the Lord your God.”
1 Samuel 16:2
Context16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you 28 and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’
1 Samuel 17:12-13
Context17:12 29 Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem 30 in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years. 31 17:13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the 32 three sons who went to war were Eliab, his firstborn, Abinadab, the second oldest, and Shammah, the third oldest.
1 Samuel 17:33-34
Context17:33 But Saul replied to David, “You aren’t able to go against this Philistine and fight him! You’re just a boy! He has been a warrior from his youth!”
17:34 David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd for his father’s flock. Whenever a lion or bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock,
1 Samuel 17:37
Context17:37 David went on to say, “The Lord who delivered me from the lion and the bear will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “Go! The Lord will be with you.” 33
1 Samuel 18:8
Context18:8 This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, 34 “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?”
1 Samuel 18:18
Context18:18 David said to Saul, “Who am I? Who are my relatives or the clan of my father 35 in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”
1 Samuel 18:22-23
Context18:22 Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.” 18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately 36 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
Context18:30 37 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 19:11
Context19:11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself 38 tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”
1 Samuel 19:18
Context19:18 Now David had run away and escaped. He went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
1 Samuel 19:22
Context19:22 Finally Saul 39 himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the large cistern that is in Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” They said, “At Naioth in Ramah.”
1 Samuel 19:24
Context19:24 He even stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay there 40 naked all that day and night. (For that reason it is asked, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”)
1 Samuel 20:27
Context20:27 But the next morning, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has Jesse’s son not come to the meal yesterday or today?”
1 Samuel 20:30
Context20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan 41 and said to him, “You stupid traitor! 42 Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse?
1 Samuel 22:7
Context22:7 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 43 commanders and officers? 44
1 Samuel 22:22
Context22:22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would certainly tell Saul! I am guilty 45 of all the deaths in your father’s house!
1 Samuel 23:11
Context23:11 Will the leaders of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, please inform your servant!”
Then the Lord said, “He will come down.”
1 Samuel 23:13-14
Context23:13 So David and his men, who numbered about six hundred, set out and left Keilah; they moved around from one place to another. 46 When told that David had escaped from Keilah, Saul called a halt to his expedition. 23:14 David stayed in the strongholds that were in the desert and in the hill country of the desert of Ziph. Saul looked for him all the time, 47 but God did not deliver David 48 into his hand.
1 Samuel 23:19
Context23:19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Isn’t David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon?
1 Samuel 23:24
Context23:24 So they left and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon.
1 Samuel 24:3
Context24:3 He came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave. Saul went into it to relieve himself. 49
Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave.
1 Samuel 26:6-7
Context26:6 David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai replied, “I will go down with you.”
26:7 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.
1 Samuel 26:11
Context26:11 But may the Lord prevent me from extending my hand against the Lord’s chosen one! Now take the spear by Saul’s head and the jug of water, and let’s get out of here!”
1 Samuel 26:21
Context26:21 Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you, for you treated my life with value 50 this day. I have behaved foolishly and have made a very terrible mistake!” 51
1 Samuel 28:3
Context28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. 52 In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums 53 and magicians 54 from the land.
1 Samuel 28:7-9
Context28:7 So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, 55 so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.”
28:8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.” 56
28:9 But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed 57 the mediums and magicians 58 from the land! Why are you trapping me 59 so you can put me to death?”
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 60 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 28:20-21
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, 61 not having eaten anything 62 all that day and night. 28:21 When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, “Your servant has done what you asked. 63 I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. 64
1 Samuel 31:9
Context31:9 They cut off Saul’s 65 head and stripped him of his armor. They sent messengers to announce the news in the temple of their idols and among their people throughout the surrounding land of the Philistines.
1 Samuel 31:12
Context31:12 all their warriors set out and traveled throughout the night. They took Saul’s corpse and the corpses of his sons from the city wall of Beth Shan and went 66 to Jabesh, where they burned them.
1 sn A quarter shekel of silver would weigh about a tenth of an ounce (about 3 grams).
2 tn Heb “our way.”
3 tn Heb “your word is good.”
4 tn Heb “took and brought.”
5 tn Heb “Ammon.” By metonymy the name “Ammon” is used collectively for the soldiers in the Ammonite army.
6 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “dispersed from upon me.”
8 tn Or “kept.”
9 tn Heb “commanded.”
10 tc The LXX and two Old Latin
11 tn Heb “at Gibeah of Benjamin.” The words “in the territory” are supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).
12 tn Or “the servant who was carrying his military equipment” (likewise in vv. 6, 7, 12, 13, 14).
13 tn Heb “at Gibeah of Benjamin.” The words “in the territory” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
14 tn Heb “saw, and look!”
15 tn Heb “the crowd melted and went, even here.”
16 tn Heb “and they mustered the troops, and look!”
17 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.
18 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).
19 tn Heb “his,” which could refer to Israel or to Saul.
20 tc The translation follows the LXX (“he was delivered”), rather than the MT, which reads, “he acted wickedly.”
21 tn Heb “they brought them.”
22 tn Heb “listened to the voice of the
23 tn Heb “journey.”
24 tn Heb “the mouth of the
25 tn Heb “and your words.”
26 tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”
27 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 tn Heb “in your hand.”
29 tc Some
30 map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.
31 tc The translation follows the Lucianic recension of the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “in years,” rather than MT “among men.”
32 tn Heb “his.”
33 tn Or “Go, and may the
34 tn Heb “said.” So also in vv. 11, 17.
35 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.
36 tn Heb “in the ears of.”
37 tc Verse 30 is absent in most LXX
38 tn Heb “your life.”
39 tn Heb “he” (also in v. 23). the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
40 tn Heb “and he fell down.”
41 tc Many medieval Hebrew
42 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.
43 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.
44 tn Heb “officers of a thousand and officers of a hundred.”
45 tc The translation follows the LXX, which reads “I am guilty,” rather than the MT, which has “I have turned.”
46 tn Heb “they went where they went.”
47 tn Heb “all the days.”
48 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
49 tn Heb “to cover his feet,” an idiom (euphemism) for relieving oneself (cf. NAB “to ease nature”).
50 tn Heb “my life was valuable in your eyes.”
51 tn Heb “and I have erred very greatly.”
52 tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”
53 tn The Hebrew term translated “mediums” actually refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits (see 2 Kgs 21:6). In v. 7 the witch of Endor is called the owner of a ritual pit. See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401. Here the term refers by metonymy to the owner of such a pit (see H. A. Hoffner, TDOT 1:133).
54 sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.
55 tn Heb “an owner of a ritual pit.” See the note at v. 3.
56 tn Heb “Use divination for me with the ritual pit and bring up for me the one whom I say to you.”
57 tn Heb “how he has cut off.”
59 tn Heb “my life.”
60 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.
61 tn Heb “also there was no strength in him.”
62 tn Heb “food.”
63 tn Heb “listened to your voice.”
64 tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”
65 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).
66 tc The translation follows the MT, which vocalizes the verb as a Qal. The LXX, however, treats the verb as a Hiphil, “they brought.”
