Texts in Conversation
In the Greek version of 1 Samuel 16, the elders ask, “Do you come in peace, O Seer?” a title not in the Masoretic Hebrew but used in the Dead Sea Scrolls version. This addition harmonizes the text with 1 Samuel 9, where Samuel first appears as a “seer.”
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Samuel 16:4
Hebrew Bible
3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you should do. You will anoint for me the one I point out to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord told him. When he arrived in Bethlehem, the elders of the city were afraid to meet him. They said, “Do you come in peace?” 5 He replied, “Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” So he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX 1 Samuel 16:4
Septuagint
3 And you shall call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will make known to you what you shall do; and you shall anoint him whom I shall mention to you. 4 And Samuel did all that the Lord told him; and he came to Bethlehem: and the elders of the city were amazed at meeting him, and said, Do you come peaceably, you Seer? 5 And he said, Peaceably: I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and rejoice with me this day: and he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and he called them to the sacrifice.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Close attention to the world of the text shows that in contexts where fear is expected (LXX 1 Samuel 4:13) or when used in conjunction with φοβέω (to fear, be afraid) (LXX 1 Samuel 17:11), the translator regularly uses ἐξίστημι (to be amazed) to suggest fear or distress in the narrative. Thus, we imagine that when the elders come to greet Samuel in LXX 1 Samuel 16:4, it is in a spirit of significant distress, noted especially by their question, “Do you come in peace, O Seer?” (The use of the title “Seer,” which is a Septuagint plus, though present in 4QSamB, hearkens back to chapter 9, the only other place to use the title, and reminds the reader of Saul’s anointing by Samuel) ..."
Benjamin J. M. Johnson, “Reading the Septuagint: The Hermeneutical Problem of a Translated Text,” in Authoritative Texts and Reception History: Aspects and Approaches, ed. Dan Batovici and Kristin De Troyer, BibInt 151 (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 20–40.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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