THE ANCHOR YALE BIBLE

I SAMUEL

A NEW TRANSLATION

WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND COMMENTARY

BY

P. KYLE McCARTER, JR.

VOLUME 8

the anchor yale bible

An Anchor Bible

published by doubleday

a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036

The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, and the portrayal of an anchor with the letters AB are trademarks of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bible. O.T. I Samuel. English. McCarter. 1980.

I Samuel.

(The Anchor Bible; v. 8)

Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

1. Bible. O.T. I Samuel—Commentaries.

I. McCarter, Pete Kyle, Jr. 1945–. II Title.

III. Series: Anchor Bible; v. 8.

BS192.2.A1 1964.G3 vol. 8 [BS1325.3] 220.7′7s

[222′.43′077] 79-7201

ISBN 978-0-300-13950-1

Copyright © 1980 by Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

all rights reserved

The Anchor Bible is a fresh approach to the world’s greatest classic. Its object is to make the Bible accessible to the modern reader; its method is to arrive at the meaning of biblical literature through exact translation and extended exposition, and to reconstruct the ancient setting of the biblical story, as well as the circumstances of its transcription and the characteristics of its transcribers.

The Anchor Bible is a project of international and interfaith scope: Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish scholars from many countries contribute individual volumes. The project is not sponsored by any ecclesiastical organization and is not intended to reflect any particular theological doctrine. Prepared under our joint supervision, The Anchor Bible is an effort to make available all the significant historical and linguistic knowledge which bears on the interpretation of the biblical record.

The Anchor Bible is aimed at the general reader with no special formal training in biblical studies; yet, it is written with the most exacting standards of scholarship, reflecting the highest technical accomplishment.

This project marks the beginning of a new era of co-operation among scholars in biblical research, thus forming a common body of knowledge to be shared by all.

To Sherry Ann, Robert Kyle and David Kyle McCarter

PREFACE

This commentary is written for two audiences. It is intended first of all for those readers of the Bible who, though they have no special training in its history and philology, wish to approach their task informed about the ancient context of the stories and alerted to the special qualities of the language. With this audience in mind I have identified in the Notes all references in the narrative which might not be familiar to the non-specialist, I have tried to introduce technical discussions in an intelligible way, and I have designed the Comments to serve as an ongoing interpretation of the story, providing continuity ...