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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,[a] Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. 18 So Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ephod,”[b] for he was at that time wearing the ephod in front of the Israelites.[c] 19 While[d] Saul spoke to the priest, the panic in the Philistines’ camp was becoming greater and greater. So Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 14:17 tn Heb “and they mustered the troops, and look!”
  2. 1 Samuel 14:18 tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath Jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v. 19. There are also quotations of this reading in rabbinic literature and medieval Jewish literature according to V. Aptowitzer, The Scripture in the Rabbinic Literature and Medieval Jewish Literature, Prolegomena (3 parts, Vindobonae, 1906, 1908, 1911). It is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, NJB, GWN, TEV, NLT, CEB, BBE).
  3. 1 Samuel 14:18 tc Heb “for the ark of God was in that day, and the sons of Israel.” The translation follows the text of some Greek manuscripts. See the previous note.
  4. 1 Samuel 14:19 tn Or perhaps “until.”