It was told Samuel: the Hebrew uses a passive verb form, but in some languages it may be necessary to use an active form and provide an agent for the action. Good News Translation restructures to say that “Samuel heard.” In other languages translators may prefer an indefinite subject, “someone told Samuel.”

Carmel was a small town in Judah located about forty kilometers (twenty-five miles) south of Jerusalem and about eleven kilometers (eight miles) southeast of Hebron. The name means “orchard [with fruit trees and vines]”; Nueva Biblia Española translates the name here and elsewhere as “La Vega,” that is, “The Plain” or “Fruitful Ground.” This town should not be confused with Mount Carmel, which was north of Samaria on the Mediterranean Sea coast. The possibility of such confusion makes it doubly important to add the classifier term “town” as in Good News Translation.

Saul set up a monument for himself in order to celebrate his victory over the Amalekites. New American Bible says that he “erected a trophy in his own honor.” New Century Version provides a useful model, “He has put up a monument in his own honor.” And Contemporary English Version is even more specific: “he had a monument built so everyone would remember his victory.” This monument probably consisted of stones that were placed one on top of another (see also 2 Sam 18.18, where the same word refers to a pillar erected by Absalom).

Gilgal: as in 7.17.

In those cases where direct discourse is less natural than indirect discourse, translators may wish to say:

• … someone told Samuel that Saul had gone to the town of Carmel and that he had built a monument to himself there. They also told him that Saul had left there to go on to Gilgal.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The verb came to in this context may be translated “found” (Revised English Bible) or “finally caught up with” (Contemporary English Version).

Blessed be you to the LORD: this seems to have been a fixed greeting (see also 2 Sam 2.5, where the same expression is translated in Revised Standard Version as “May you be blessed by the LORD”). See also 23.21.

The Septuagint has additional words at the end of verse 12. Some think that the words were accidentally omitted from the Masoretic Text and have added them in translation at the end of verse 12 (Anchor Bible) or at the beginning of verse 13 (Klein and La Bible Pléiade). This addition in Anchor Bible reads “When Samuel came to Saul he had just offered up as holocausts to Yahweh the first parts of the booty he had taken from Amalek.” But this longer text is not recommended.

Saul’s final statement may be more naturally worded in some languages as “I have done what the LORD commanded me to do.” The reference is to the command (literally “the word,” so Fox) to completely destroy all the Amalekites and all that belonged to them (verse 3). In saying this Saul directly contradicts the facts and what Yahweh himself says in verse 11: “[he] has not performed my commandments.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Said: in many languages it will be more natural to say that Samuel “asked” rather than to say that Samuel said. By asking this question Samuel shows that he does not believe Saul’s claim to have obeyed the commandment of the LORD and to have killed all of the people and animals of the Amalekites.

Revised Standard Version preserves the parallelism of the Hebrew.

Good News Translation, on the other hand, changes the form to more natural English by changing in my ears to “I hear.”

While some languages have different words (bleating and lowing) for the sounds of the different animals, others may use a single verb meaning “crying” or something similar. Translators should not feel compelled to search for two different terms if this is not natural in their language. The Hebrew, in fact, has just one noun, “the voice of the sheep” and “the voice of the oxen.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Here, as again in verses 21 and 24, Saul blames his troops for the failure to completely destroy everything. The vague pronoun they may be translated more specifically as “my men” (Good News Translation) or “the troops” (Revised English Bible). By using this pronoun Saul is excusing himself from guilt in the matter of sparing the best animals. He goes on to say even more specifically that it was the people (that is, the troops) who were responsible.

Furthermore, the action of sparing the animals is justified by saying that they were spared for a noble cause: in order that they might be sacrificed to Yahweh.

Amalekites: see the comments on 14.48.

The LORD your God: the fact that Saul says your (masculine second person singular pronoun) God instead of “our” God should not be understood to mean that Saul did not worship the same God as Samuel. Rather Saul’s words intend to please Samuel by stating that it is Samuel’s God who is to benefit. See also the comments on 12.19.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Stop! is a causative form of the Hebrew verb meaning “relax” or “abandon.” Some languages will require a clear statement of what is to be stopped. The idea is almost certainly “Stop talking.” Moffatt translates “Silence!”

This night: literally “the night,” that is, the night that had just passed. In modern English the sense is clearly expressed with the words “last night” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and Revised English Bible). See verses 10-11.

Translators may need to use a name in place of the two pronouns he and him if the antecedents will not be clear. In this last statement Saul is speaking to Samuel.

Say on is a rather archaic way of saying “Speak” (New Revised Standard Version), or in this context possibly “Go ahead.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Samuel’s question is rhetorical. Revised English Bible, like Good News Translation, turns the rhetorical question into a statement. It may be important to do the same in many other languages.

Though you are little in your own eyes: probably an allusion to Saul’s words in 9.21. Little here refers not to physical size but rather to lack of importance. Revised English Bible says “Once you thought little of yourself.” La Bible du Semeur translates “you considered yourself a person of little importance.”

The word head may be better translated “leader” in this context (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). It is synonymous with the word king used later in this verse.

The tribes of Israel: regarding the translation of tribes, see the comments on 2.28.

Anointed: see the comments on 2.10.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Sent you on a mission: literally “sent you on the way.” There is no special word for mission in Hebrew. But the idea is that Yahweh had sent Saul with specific instructions that he had failed to fulfill. These instructions are partially repeated in this verse. The idea of mission may have to be translated “the LORD sent you to do something.”

And said: the Septuagint says “and said to you.” In many languages it will be natural to add “to you,” even if translators follow the Hebrew text here.

Utterly destroy: see the comments on this technical word in verse 3. Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation preserves the holy-war aspect that this verb carries in Hebrew. Compare, however, New American Bible (“put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction”) and New Jerusalem Bible (“put those sinners, the Amalekites, under the curse of destruction”).

The Amalekites, and fight against them: literally “Amalek and fight against him.” But Revised Standard Version rightly translates the plural idea that is implied. See the comments on verse 3 above.

Consumed translates a Hebrew verb whose basic meaning is “to finish” or “to complete.” Here, as often, it has the negative meaning “to destroy.” Good News Translation says “killed”; other translations include “until you had wiped them out” (Revised English Bible) and “until they are exterminated” (New Jerusalem Bible and similarly New American Bible).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Obey the voice of the LORD: the idiom “to obey the voice [of someone]” is common in the Old Testament. It may be more natural in some languages to say “obey the person” or “do what the person says to do” rather than “obey the voice of the person.”

Swoop on the spoil: this expresses the same sense as flew on the spoil in 14.32, but the verb is different. The idea is that of greedily rushing into a situation for selfish benefit.

Do what was evil in the sight of the LORD: this expression occurs often in Judges (for example, 2.11; 3.7, 12; 4.1; 6.1; 10.6; 13.1). That which is evil in the sight of the LORD is that which displeases him and which he prohibits. In this context it is synonymous with swoop on the spoil, so translators should take special care in translating the conjunction and. Good News Translation shows that the two are identical by translating “and so,” meaning “and in this manner.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .