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1 Samuel 2:7-9
New English Translation
1 Samuel 2:7-9
New English Translation
7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;
he humbles and he exalts.
8 He lifts the weak[a] from the dust;
he raises[b] the poor from the ash heap
to seat them with princes—
he bestows on them an honored position.[c]
The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord—
he placed the world on them.
9 He watches over[d] his holy ones,[e]
but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,[f]
for it is not by one’s own[g] strength that one prevails.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 2:8 tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”
- 1 Samuel 2:8 tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.
- 1 Samuel 2:8 tn Heb “he makes them inherit a seat of honor.”
- 1 Samuel 2:9 tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.
- 1 Samuel 2:9 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.
- 1 Samuel 2:9 tc The LXX begins the verse differently, “granting the prayer to the one who prays; he blessed the years of the righteous.”
- 1 Samuel 2:9 tn Heb “For not by strength a person prevails.” Since the Lord’s strength is apparent in the context, the translation adds “one’s own” for clarity.
New English Translation (NET)
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