1 Samuel 19 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
1 Samuel 19
The threatened anointed one finds protection
Editorial Christian reading of David’s preservation within the ancestry of Jesus [NT1]. The protecting actions of Jonathan, Michal, and the prophetic company remain human events in this narrative.
19:1–7 | Jonathan’s plea for David
Verse MT 19:1 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:1
Saul spoke to his son Jonathan and to all his servants about putting David to death. But Saul’s son Jonathan delighted greatly in David.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:1
Saul spoke to his son Jonathan and to all his servants about putting David to death. But Saul’s son Jonathan greatly favored David.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: The murder instruction and Jonathan’s contrary affection agree; delight and preference are distinct verbs.
Verse MT 19:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:2
Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to put you to death. Now please be on your guard in the morning; stay in a concealed place and hide.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:2
Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul seeks to put you to death. So be on your guard tomorrow morning, hide, and remain concealed.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Greek omits my father here, explicitly gives tomorrow, and reverses the order of hiding and remaining concealed.
Verse MT 19:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:3
I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. I will speak about you to my father, see what happens, and tell you.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:3
I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you may be. I will speak about you to my father, see what happens, and report to you.”
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The proposed mediation and report agree. What happens supplies the compressed object of seeing without adding a promised outcome.
Verse MT 19:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:4
Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “Let the king not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you, and his deeds have been very good for you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:4
Jonathan spoke good things about David to his father Saul and said to him, “Let the king not sin against your servant David, for he has not sinned against you, and his deeds are very good.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew calls David his servant and explicitly says his deeds benefited Saul; Greek shifts to your servant and lacks for you in the final clause.
Verse MT 19:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:5
He placed his soul in his palm and struck the Philistine, and YHWH brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw and rejoiced. Why should you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without cause?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:5
He placed his soul in his hand and struck the foreigner, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance. All Israel saw and rejoiced. Why do you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without cause?”
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew addresses Saul as the one who saw and rejoiced; Greek makes all Israel the witnesses and rejoicing group. The life-in-the-hand image and plea concerning innocent blood agree.
Verse MT 19:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:6
Saul listened to Jonathan’s voice, and Saul swore, “As YHWH lives, he shall not be put to death.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:6
Saul listened to Jonathan’s voice, and Saul swore, saying, “As the Lord lives, he shall not die.”
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both preserve the oath’s emphatic negative, expressed through an elliptical if-formula. Hebrew explicitly has being put to death; Greek dying.
Verse MT 19:7 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:7
Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these words. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was before him as in former days.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:7
Jonathan called David and told him all these words. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was before him as in former days.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Hebrew repeats Jonathan’s name once more. Both use yesterday-and-the-third-day language idiomatically for the former relationship.
19:8–17 | The attack and Michal’s escape plan
Verse MT 19:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:8
War broke out again. David went out, fought the Philistines, and struck them with a great blow, and they fled before him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:8
War broke out again against Saul. David grew strong, fought the foreigners, and struck them with a very great blow, and they fled before him.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek explicitly names Saul as the target and describes David growing strong where Hebrew describes his going out. Greek intensifies the blow.
Verse MT 19:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:9
An evil spirit of YHWH came upon Saul while he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing with his hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:9
An evil spirit of God came upon Saul while he was sleeping in the house with a spear in his hand. David was playing with his hands.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew names YHWH and has Saul sitting; Greek names God and has him sleeping. The unusual Greek posture is retained. No instrument absent from this verse is inserted into either column.
Verse MT 19:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:10
Saul sought to strike David and the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul, and Saul drove the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:10
Saul sought to drive the spear into David, but David moved away from Saul, and Saul drove the spear into the wall. David withdrew and escaped.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew initially names the wall as part of Saul’s intended strike. Greek names David’s evasive action explicitly and places that night at the start of 19:11. Saul supplies the unstated subject of the impact clause in both columns.
Verse MT 19:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:11
Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and put him to death in the morning. His wife Michal told David, saying, “If you do not save your soul tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:11
That night Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him so as to put him to death in the morning. His wife Michal told David, saying, “If you do not save your own soul this night, tomorrow you will be put to death.”
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Greek attaches the night marker here rather than at 19:10. The warning and planned morning killing agree.
Verse MT 19:12 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:12
Michal lowered David through the window. He went away, fled, and escaped.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:12
Michal lowered David through the window. He went away, fled, and was saved.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The window escape and threefold departure sequence agree.
Verse MT 19:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:13
Michal took the teraphim and placed them on the bed. She put the goats’ hair covering at its head and covered it with a garment.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:13
Michal took the funerary images and placed them on the bed. She put the goats’ liver at its head and covered them with a garment.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew teraphim remains the image-term used elsewhere in the project; goats’ hair covering is provisional for kebir haʿizzim. Greek kenotaphia is rendered funerary images, literally empty-tomb objects, and explicitly has liver, not hair. Neither object is harmonized to the other column.
Verse MT 19:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:14
Saul sent messengers to take David, and she said, “He is sick.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:14
Saul sent messengers to take David, and they said that he was ill.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew has a singular female speaker, Michal in context; Greek has unnamed plural speakers. The illness claim agrees.
Verse MT 19:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:15
Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on the bed, so that I may put him to death.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:15
He sent for David, saying, “Bring him to me on the bed, so that I may put him to death.”
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Greek continues the unnamed Saul and lacks the explicit messengers and seeing instruction. Both retain the murderous order despite the illness report.
Verse MT 19:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:16
The messengers came, and there were the teraphim on the bed, with the goats’ hair covering at its head.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:16
The messengers came, and there were the funerary images on the bed, with the goats’ liver at its head.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The distinct objects from 19:13 recur. The head-position pronoun refers to the staged figure or bed arrangement; no additional anatomical explanation is supplied.
Verse MT 19:17 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:17
Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way and sent my enemy away, so that he escaped?” Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Send me away. Why should I kill you?’”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:17
Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way and sent my enemy away, so that he escaped?” Michal said to Saul, “He said, ‘Send me away; otherwise I will kill you.’”
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew gives the reported threat as a rhetorical question; Greek an explicit otherwise-condition. The claim remains attributed to Michal’s report, not asserted independently by the narrator.
19:18–24 | Samuel’s refuge and Saul among the prophets
Verse MT 19:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:18
David fled and escaped. He came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:18
David fled and escaped. He came to Samuel at Armathaim and told him all that Saul had done to him. David and Samuel went and stayed at Nauath in Ramah.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew names Ramah as the first destination; Greek Armathaim, and explicitly locates the subsequent Nauath in Ramah. Naioth/Nauath preserves the differing location forms.
Verse MT 19:19 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:19
Saul was told, “Look, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:19
It was reported to Saul, saying, “Look, David is at Nauath in Ramah.”
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: The report agrees apart from the retained Naioth/Nauath form.
Verse MT 19:20 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:20
Saul sent messengers to take David. He saw the company of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing, stationed over them. The Spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers, and they too prophesied.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:20
Saul sent messengers to take David. They saw the assembly of prophets, with Samuel standing, appointed over them. The Spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers, and they prophesied.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew has an unnamed singular seer and explicitly depicts the prophets prophesying; Greek has plural seers and lacks that first participle. The singular Hebrew form is not silently changed to match Greek. The Spirit’s effect on the messengers agrees.
Verse MT 19:21 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:21
They told Saul, and he sent other messengers; they too prophesied. Saul sent messengers a third time, and they too prophesied.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:21
It was reported to Saul, and he sent other messengers; they too prophesied. Saul sent messengers a third time, and they too prophesied.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The second and third missions and their outcomes agree; the report is active plural in Hebrew and passive in Greek.
Verse MT 19:22 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:22
He too went to Ramah and came as far as the great cistern at Secu. He asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” Someone said, “Look, at Naioth in Ramah.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:22
Saul burned with anger and went himself to Armathaim. He came as far as the well of the threshing floor at Sephi and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” They said, “Look, at Nauath in Ramah.”
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: Greek adds Saul’s anger, names Armathaim rather than Ramah, and specifies a threshing-floor well at Sephi rather than a great cistern at Secu. Hebrew has a singular unnamed respondent; Greek plural respondents.
Verse MT 19:23 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:23
He went there, to Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God came upon him too, and he went on, prophesying, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:23
He went from there to Nauath in Ramah. The Spirit of God came upon him too, and he went on prophesying until he came to Nauath in Ramah.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Hebrew says there; Greek from there. Both retain the continuing prophetic action and repeated destination.
Verse MT 19:24 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
MT 19:24
He too stripped off his garments and prophesied before Samuel. He fell naked all that day and all the night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
LXX 19:24
He stripped off his garments and prophesied before them. He fell naked all that day and all the night. Therefore they said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: Hebrew names Samuel as the witness; Greek has plural them. Neither column reduces naked to a particular level of undress beyond the source wording. The proverbial question echoes 10:11–12.