1 Samuel 2:8-10

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. 1 Samuel 2:8 tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”
2. 1 Samuel 2:8 tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.
3. 1 Samuel 2:8 tn Heb “he makes them inherit a seat of honor.”
4. 1 Samuel 2:9 tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.
5. 1 Samuel 2:9 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.
6. 1 Samuel 2:9 tc The LXX begins the verse differently, “granting the prayer to the one who prays; he blessed the years of the righteous.”
7. 1 Samuel 2:9 tn Heb “For not by strength a person prevails.” Since the Lord’s strength is apparent in the context, the translation adds “one’s own” for clarity.
8. 1 Samuel 2:10 tn The imperfect verbal forms in this line and in the next two lines are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.
9. 1 Samuel 2:10 tc The present translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate in reading the plural (“his adversaries,” similarly many other English versions) rather than the singular (“his adversary”) of the Kethib. The LXX adds material very similar to Jer 9:23-24. “the Lord is holy. Let not the wise boast in his wisdom, and let not let the strong boast in his strength, and let not let the rich boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this: to understand and know the Lord, and to practice justice and righteousness in the midst of the land.” The Greek text of Jeremiah uses different words for “wise” and “strong” and closes by referring to the Lord as one who performs justice, etc. and whose will is in these things.
10. 1 Samuel 2:10 tn The Hebrew preposition here has the sense of “from within.”
11. 1 Samuel 2:10 tn The imperfect verbal forms in this and the next line are understood as indicating what is anticipated and translated with the future tense, because at the time of Hannah’s prayer Israel did not yet have a king.
12. 1 Samuel 2:10 tn Heb “the horn,” here a metaphor for power or strength. Cf. NCV “make his appointed king strong”; NLT “increases the might of his anointed one.”
13. 1 Samuel 2:10 tc The LXX greatly expands v. 10 with an addition that seems to be taken from Jer 9:23-24.sn The anointed one is the anticipated king of Israel, as the preceding line makes clear.