1 Samuel

Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · 31 chapters

Chapters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Editorial guide

This reading edition follows the Saints-priority English text of the selected Rahlfs–Hanhart Greek edition. Source chapter and verse labels, additions, and numbered gaps are retained. The complete text has received source and language review; unresolved questions and limits are stated in the separate notes. Independent specialist and full critical-apparatus review remain outstanding.

The companion edition presents independent Hebrew and Greek translations, all comparison rows, attributed reception, and complete source and decision registers. Its source-specific order and differing readings remain distinct.

Comparison and reception:

Review date:

Textual and reception notes

Source and numbering. This reading follows the selected Rahlfs–Hanhart Greek text of First Reigns, with seven hundred seventy-three numbered units. Its shorter chapters 17–18 remain shorter: Hebrew 17:12–31, 41, 50, 55–58 and 18:1–5, 10–11, 17–19, 30 are not supplied. Hebrew 13:1 and 23:12 also have no counterpart here. The Greek list at 30:28a remains in its source position. Publisher 21:1 corresponds to the final departure commonly placed at 20:42; publisher 24:1 corresponds to common 23:29.

2:36; 3:14; 6:3. Greek 2:36 names a silver obol; the companion’s Hebrew agorah is rendered payment, without assigning a fixed denomination. At 3:14, expiated concerns wrongdoing as the grammatical subject. At 6:3, propitiation will be made for you preserves the personal beneficiaries of the Greek verb. The ark is the feminine referent of to it in the preceding compensation clause.

13:6. The men of Israel expresses the collective sense of the Greek singular-form Israelite designation in the military narrative. Could not advance remains a provisional rendering of the compressed negative infinitive; no named opponent has been supplied.

20:9. The publisher places a break after and if not and before to your cities. The revised punctuation keeps the elliptical condition separate from the reporting destination. The cities wording remains; the compressed syntax is still provisional.

28:14, 17. Standing upright describes the man’s physical posture, not his moral character. Greek 28:17 explicitly addresses to you and uses future verbs for the kingdom’s transfer. The companion’s Hebrew has a third-person for him and completed verbs; its pronoun remains unexpanded rather than being forced into for Himself.

28:12–19. Both narrators name Samuel; the woman’s plural gods and the distinct predictions remain. Rashi on 28:13 interprets the vision through Samuel and Moses, and on 28:19 interprets with me as Samuel’s abode. Augustine, On the Care of the Dead §§18–19, considers Samuel’s appearance and an alternative imitating-spirit account, then places such appearances under divine power. These are attributed interpretations, not replacements for the narrative wording.

31:9–13. Greek reports turning Saul over where Hebrew explicitly reports beheading; Greek 31:12 names Jonathan’s body where Hebrew has the sons’ bodies. Burning, burial, and the seven-day fast remain explicit. Augustine’s Care of the Dead §5 concerns the dignity of bodily care and burial; its use here is an editorial thematic comparison, not a direct explanation of the burning.

Hannah and the faithful priest. Rashi on 1:11, 13 explains Hannah’s appeal among God’s hosts and Eli’s unfamiliarity with silent prayer. On 2:35 he identifies the faithful priest as Zadok. Augustine, City of God XVII.4–5, reads Hannah’s song as the Church’s prophetic voice and the faithful priest as Christ, with the enduring house identified as heavenly Jerusalem. Luke 1:46–55 provides an editorial comparison in its reversal of the proud and lowly, rich and hungry; this is not asserted to be an explicit quotation of the whole song.

David’s bread and restraint. Luke 6:3–5 explicitly reuses David’s bread episode. Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 39.1–2, discusses hunger and priestly consent and offers a harmonizing explanation of the priest’s names; that explanation does not alter the source names in First Samuel. Augustine, City of God XVII.6, treats David’s respect for Saul’s anointing typologically. Gregory, Pastoral Rule III.4, Admonition 5, applies David’s conscience to subjects’ speech while also requiring just conduct of rulers. Luke 6:27–38 supplies a separate thematic comparison about enemies and mercy.

Royal sequence and friendship. Acts 13:20–23 explicitly moves from Samuel through Saul and David to Jesus; Hebrews 11:32–40 remembers David and Samuel within its testimony to faith. These passages guide Christian reception without turning every royal act into an example to imitate. Mishnah Avot 5:16 names David and Jonathan as an example of love not dependent on an external cause; this particular claim was freshly checked in Sefaria’s indexed excerpt, while the full interactive text remained unavailable.

Roman reading selections. Fresh USCCB checks confirm the Holy Family option, 1 Samuel 1:20–22, 24–28 with Luke 2:41–52; the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time selection, 3:3b–10, 19 with John 1:35–42; and the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A scrutiny selection, 16:1b, 6–7, 10–13a with John 9. These selections differ from the complete source units printed here. The inherited Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time selection, 26:2, 7–9, 12–13, 22–23 with Luke 6:27–38, was not freshly reconfirmed because its exact USCCB page was inaccessible.

Review limits. Every selected Greek unit, all thirty-one BHS chapters, and both English columns were reviewed. Hebrew 17 was checked in the recovered publisher presentation, retrieved from a cache marked crawled two weeks earlier; no live-page freshness is inferred. Mechon Mamre remains an ancillary written/read check. NETS and the full Logeion entry were inaccessible, so earlier checks are not presented as freshly repeated. The Luke 6 parallels were checked in the current official SBLGNT file because the inherited USCCB page was inaccessible. No manuscript-image, Göttingen, or full critical-apparatus collation is claimed. The companion retains all eight hundred twelve comparison rows and their complete notes, including unresolved lexical and syntactic questions.