¹tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”
²map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
³tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”
⁴tn Heb “in your hand.”
⁵tn Heb “say.”
⁶tn Heb “said.”
⁷map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
⁸tc 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”).
⁹tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
¹⁰tn Heb “saw.”
¹¹tn Heb “his anointed one.”
¹²tn Heb “don’t look toward.”
¹³tn Heb “for not that which the man sees.” The translation follows the LXX, which reads, “for not as man sees does God see.” The MT has suffered from homoioteleuton or homoioarcton. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 274.
¹⁴tn Heb “to the eyes.”
¹⁵tn Heb “and caused him to pass before.”
¹⁶tn Heb “he” (also in v. 9); the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
¹⁷tn Heb “caused to pass by.”
¹⁸tn Heb “caused seven of his sons to pass before Samuel.” This could be taken as referring to seven sons in addition to the three mentioned before this, but 1 Sam 17:12 says Jesse had eight sons, not eleven. 1 Chr 2:13-15 lists only seven sons, including David. However, 1 Chr 27:18 mentions an additional son, named Elihu.
¹⁹tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jesse) has been specified in the translation both here and in v. 12 for clarity.
²⁰tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”
²¹tn Or “an injurious spirit.” The phrase need not refer to an evil, demonic spirit. The Hebrew word translated “evil” may refer to the character of the spirit or to its effect upon Saul. If the latter, another translation option might be “a mischief-making spirit.”
²²tn Heb “and he will play with his hand.”
²³tn Heb “and it will be better for you.”
²⁴tn Heb “see.”
²⁵map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
²⁶tn Heb “mighty man of valor and a man of war.”
²⁷tn Heb “discerning of word.”
²⁸tn Heb “a man of form.”
²⁹tn Heb “a kid of the goats.”
³⁰tn Heb “by the hand of.”
³¹tn Heb “he loved him.”
³²tn Heb “Let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my eyes.”
³³tn Heb “would turn aside from upon him.”