f Septuagint and other versions read “three thousand.”
g So some Heb. mss.; other mss., Septuagint, and Targum read “said.” Cf. 10.8.
h-h Change of vocalization yields, “You acted foolishly. If you had kept the commandment the LORD your God laid upon you&ldots;.”
i-i Septuagint reads here, “Samuel rose and left Gilgal and went his way. The rest of the people followed Saul to meet the soldiers, and they went from Gilgal.”
j Sometimes called Geba; cf. vv. 3, 16; 14.5.
k Septuagint reads “Geba.”
l Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Septuagint reads “sickle.”
m Meaning of several terms in this verse uncertain.
n I.e., two-thirds of a shekel.
a See note j at 13.15.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c-c Lit. “is in your heart. Incline yourself.” Septuagint reads “your heart inclines to.”
d-d Lit. “with you, according to your heart.” Septuagint reads “with you; my heart is like your heart.”
e-e Lit. “shaken and going thither.” Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
f Septuagint reads “ephod,” and cf. vv. 3, 23.9, 30.7.
g Heb. “and.”
h-h Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Septuagint reads “And all the troops, about 10,000 men, were with Saul; and the battle spread into the hill country of Ephraim. Now Saul committed a rash act.”
i-i Meaning of Heb. uncertain; cf. Song of Songs 5.1.
j I.e., without the proper rites.
k Septuagint reads “here.”
l-l Septuagint reads “whatever he had in his possession.”
m-m Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Septuagint reads “Why have You not responded to Your servant today? If this iniquity was due to my son Jonathan or to me, O LORD, God of Israel, show Urim; and if You say it was due to Your people Israel, show Thummim.”
n Many mss. and Septuagint add “to me.”
o Septuagint and 4QSama read “king.”
p The same as Ishbosheth (2 Sam. 2.8) and Eshbaal (1 Chron. 8.33).
q Usually “Abner.”
a See note at Josh. 6.18.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c Targum and Syriac read “fatlings.”
d-d Lit. “and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD.”
e Idols consulted for oracles; see Ezek. 21.26; Zech. 10.2
f-f From root ma’ad, “to falter”; cf. Septuagint.
a These words are preserved in the Septuagint.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a Lit. “the man of the space between,” i.e., between the armies.
b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c-c Heb. “they.”
d I.e., freedom from royal levies.
e Lit. “badness of heart.”
f-f Septuagint reads “not my lord’s.”
g-g Heb. “clothed him in a breastplate” (cf. v. 5), because a breastplate was combined with a leather jerkin.
h-h Septuagint reads “was unable to walk, for.&ldots;”
i Lit. “five.”
j-j Septuagint reads “your carcass and the carcasses.”
k So many Heb. mss. and ancient versions; other mss. and the editions read “to.”
l Septuagint reads “Gath”; cf. end of verse.
m I.e., after David’s capture of Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5).
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain; Septuagint reads “the dancing women came out to meet David from all the towns of Israel.”
b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c Change of vocalization yields “raised.”
d-d Lit. “and he went out and came in before the troops.”
e-e Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Change of vocalization yields “who are my kin.”
f Septuagint reads “one hundred” and cf. 2 Sam. 3.14.
g-g Septuagint reads “and that all Israel loved him.”
a Heb. “He.”
b-b Cf. note at 10.5.
c-c Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
d-d Septuagint reads “the cistern of the threshing floor on the bare height.”
a-a Septuagint reads “replied to him.”
b-b Septuagint reads “will not sit &ldots; meal. Let. &ldots;”
c Septuagint lacks “third.”
d Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
e The meaning of several parts of vv. 12–16 is uncertain.
f-f I.e., the faithfulness pledged in the covenant before the LORD.
g Septuagint reads “swore to.”
h At the festal meal.
i-i Lit. “very much.”
j-j Lit. “on the day of the incident”; see 19.2 ff.
k Lit. “accept it.”
l See above, vv. 12–17.
m Force of Heb. uncertain; Septuagint “faced him.”
n-n Heb. construction unclear.
o See note at 10.11.
p See 18.11 and note.
q-q Lit. “rose up from beside.”
r Identical with the “Ezel Stone,” v. 19.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain. 4QSamb (cf. Septuagint) reads “made an appointment with [my] young men at.&ldots;”
b Lit. “five.”
c-c Meaning of Heb. uncertain in part.
d-d I.e., excluded from the shrine, perhaps because of ritual impurity.
e-e Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
f-f Lit. “in their hand”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a The “care” in v. 1 is referred to as “stronghold” in vv. 4–5; cf. the same variation in 2 Sam. 23.13–14; 1 Chron. 11.15–16.
b-b Targum and Syriac read “left them with.”
c See note at 10.11.
d For this meaning of holeh, cf. Amos 6.6.
e-e Septuagint reads “as an enemy.”
f-f Cf. Isa. 11.14; but meaning of Heb. uncertain.
g-g Lit. “Far be it from me!”
h-h Septuagint reads “bearers of the ephod”; cf. note at 2.28.
i-i Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b The meaning of many parts of 23.19 ff. is uncertain. The events described in 23.19–24.22 are partly paralleled in chapter 26, with variations.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b Lit. “to cover his feet.”
c Vv. 5b-6 read will after 8a.
d-d Lit. “David’s heart struck him.”
e-e So several mss. and ancient versions; cf. v.5. Most mss. and editions read “Saul’s corner.”
f Understanding the Heb. as an ellipsis of wattahos ‘eni (cf., e.g., Deut.7.16).
gLit. “[my] father,” cf. 2 Kings 5.13.
h-h Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “the generosity you have shown me.”
a Septuagint reads “Maon,” cf. v. 2 and 23.24,25.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c Septuagint reads “wine,” and cf. v. 18.
d-d The phrase is intended to avoid the imprecation of David against himself; it is lacking in the Septuagint.
e-e Lit. “one who pees against a wall.”
f-f Lit. “and spoke for”; cf. Song of Songs 8.8.
a Cf. 23.19 and note.
b Meaning of Heb. uncertain; cf. 17.20.
c Cf. Amos 5.21.
d So many mss.; other mss. and editions omit.
a Septuagint reads “Telam” (cf. “Telaim” in 15.4; and “Telem” in Josh. 15.24).
b Change of vocalization yields “brought it”; cf. v. 11.
c So some mss. and Targum; Septuagint and 4QSama read “Whom.”
d I.e., the part of the Negeb occupied by these clans.
e-e Cf. note at 13.4.
a The rest of this chapter would read well after chapters 29 and 30.
b A kind of oracle; see note at Exod. 28.30 and 1 Sam. 14.41.
c Some Septuagint mss. read “Saul.”
d Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
e-e Some mss. and Septuagint read “to you.”
a-a Meaning of phrase uncertain.
b-b A euphemism for “our heads.”
c Lit. “go out and come in.”
d-d Meaning of parts of verse uncertain. Septuagint reads “and go to the place that I have assigned you; and harbor no evil thought in your heart, for you are acceptable to me.”
a See note at 2.28.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c So some mss. and versions; most mss. and editions read “me.”
d-d Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Septuagint reads “after.”
e Called Bethul in Josh. 19.4.
a 1 Chron. 10 reproduces this chapter, with minor variations.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Lit. “the archers, men with the bow.”
c-c Construed as hophal form; cf. 1 Kings 2.34.
d-d Lacking in the Septuagint; 1 Chron. 10.6 reads “all his house.”
e-e Meaning of Heb. uncertain. 1 Chron. 10.7 reads “in the valley.”
f-f Septuagint and 1 Chron. 10.9 read “among their idols.”
g-g 1 Chron. 10.11 reads “all [the inhabitants of] Jabesh-gilead heard all that.”
h 1 Chron. 10.12 reads “brought them.”
II Samuel
1 After the death of Saul—David had already returned from defeating the Amalekites—David stayed two days in Ziklag. 2On the third day, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes rent and earth on his head; and as he approached David, he flung himself to the ground and bowed low. 3David said to him, “Where are you coming from?” He answered, “I have just escaped from the camp of Israel.” 4“What happened?” asked David. “Tell me!” And he told him how the troops had fled the battlefield, and that, moreover, many of the troops had fallen and died; also that Saul and his son Jonathan were dead. 5“How do you know,” David asked the young man who brought him the news, “that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” 6The young man who brought him the news answered, “I happened to be at Mount Gilboa, and I saw Saul leaning on his spear, and the chariots and horsemen closing in on him. 7He looked around and saw me, and he called to me. When I responded, ‘At your service,’ 8he asked me, ‘Who are you?’ And I told him that I was an Amalekite. 9Then he said to me, ‘Stand over me, and finish me off, a-for I am in agony and am barely alive.’-a 10So I stood over him and finished him off, for I knew that a-he would never rise from where he was lying.-a Then I took the crown from his head and the armlet from his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”
11David took hold of his clothes and rent them, and so did all the men with him. 12They lamented and wept, and they fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the soldiers of the LORDb and the House of Israel who had fallen by the sword. 13David said to the young man who had brought him the news, “Where are you from?” He replied, “I am the son of a resident alien, an Amalekite.” 14“How did you dare,” David said to him, “to lift your hand and kill the LORD’s anointed?” 15Thereupon David called one of the attendants and said to him, “Come over and strike him!” He struck him down and he died. 16And David said to him, “Your blood be on your own head! Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I put the LORD’s anointed to death.’ ”
17And David intoned this dirge over Saul and his son Jonathan— 18a-He ordered the Judites to be taught [The Song of the] Bow.-a It is recorded in the Book of Jashar.c
19Your glory, O Israel,
Lies slain on
