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LXX 1 Samuel

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 19

1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, to kill David. And Jonathan, Saul's son, loved David much. 2 And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul seeks to kill you: take heed to yourself therefore tomorrow morning, and hide yourself, and dwell in secret. 3 And I will go forth, and stand near my father in the field where you shall be, and I will speak concerning you to my father; and I will see what his answer may be, and I will tell you. 4 And Jonathan spoke favorably concerning David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against your servant David, for he has not sinned against you, and his deeds are very good. 5 And he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great deliverance; and all Israel saw, and rejoiced: why then do you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause? 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan; and Saul swore, saying, As the Lord lives, he shall not die. 7 And Jonathan called David, and told him all these words; and Jonathan brought David in to Saul, and he was before him as in former times. 8 And there was again war against Saul; and David did valiantly, and fought against the Philistines, and struck them with a very great slaughter, and they fled from before him. 9 And an evil spirit from God was upon Saul, and he was resting in his house, and a spear was in his hand, and David was playing on the harp with his hands. 10 And Saul sought to strike David with the spear; and David withdrew suddenly from the presence of Saul; and he drove the spear into the wall; and David retreated and escaped. 11 And it happened in that night, that Saul sent messengers to the house of David to watch him, in order to kill him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying, Unless you save your life this night, tomorrow you shall be killed. 12 So Michal lets David down by the window, and he departed, and fled, and escaped. 13 And Michal took images, and laid them on the bed, and she put the liver of a goat by his head, and covered them with clothes. 14 And Saul sent messengers to take David; and they say that he is sick. 15 And he sends to David, saying, Bring him to me on the bed, that I may kill him. 16 And the messengers come, and, look, the images were on the bed, and the goat's liver at his head. 17 And Saul said to Michal, Why have you thus deceived me, and allowed my enemy to depart, and he has escaped? and Michal said to Saul, He said, Let me go, and if not, I will kill you. 18 So David fled, and escaped, and comes to Samuel to Ramathaim, and tells him all that Saul had done to him: and Samuel and David went, and lived in Naioth in Ramah. 19 And it was told Saul, saying, Look, David is in Naioth in Ramah. 20 And Saul sent messengers to take David, and they saw the assembly of the prophets, and Samuel stood as appointed over them; and the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they prophesy. 21 And it was told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied: and Saul sent again a third set of messengers, and they also prophesied. 22 And Saul was very angry, and went himself also to Ramathaim, and he comes as far as the well of the threshing floor that is in Sephi; and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And they said, Look, in Naioth in Ramah. 23 And he went from there to Naioth in Ramah: and there came the Spirit of God upon him also, and he went on prophesying till he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he took off his clothes,⁠ and prophesied before them; and lay down naked all that day and all that night: therefore they said, Is Saul also among the prophets?

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Samuel 15:35 and 1 Samuel 19:24 and LXX 1 Samuel 19:24

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

1 Samuel 15 says Samuel never saw Saul again, yet 1 Samuel 19 shows Saul prophesying in front of Samuel, creating a conflict. The Greek Septuagint translation of 1 Samuel tries to harmonize this by changing “Samuel” to the generic “them.”

Passages

1 Samuel 15:35

Hebrew Bible
33 Samuel said, “Just as your sword left women childless, so your mother will be the most bereaved among women.” Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces there in Gilgal before the Lord. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, while Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day he died, Samuel did not see Saul again. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Samuel

1 Samuel 19:24

Hebrew Bible
23 So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God came upon him as well, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 He even stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay there naked all that day and night. (For that reason it is asked, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”)
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Samuel

LXX 1 Samuel 19:24

Septuagint
23 And he went from there to Naioth in Ramah: and there came the Spirit of God upon him also, and he went on prophesying till he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he took off his clothes, and prophesied before them; and lay down naked all that day and all that night: therefore they said, Is Saul also among the prophets?
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX 1 Samuel

References

"... The tale of Saul’s rejection includes the remark “Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death” (1 Samuel 15:35). In the Masoretic text of 1 Samuel 19:24, however, it is said that Saul “stripped off his clothes, and he too fell into a frenzy before Samuel.” LXX 1 Samuel 19:24 corrects this: “he fell into a frenzy before them” (the company of the prophets), in order to avoid any discrepancy with 1 Samuel 15:35 ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 36.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Samuel 15:35 and 1 Samuel 19:24 and LXX 1 Samuel 19:24

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