The use of the conjunction and between the first two clauses may give the mistaken impression that going to Bethlehem and doing what the LORD commanded were two different things. The meaning is rather that Samuel followed the LORD’s command, and going to Bethlehem was a part of that. Certain versions (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible) make a separate sentence of the first clause. Then the part that speaks of going to Bethlehem is made a temporal relative clause (“When he arrived at Bethlehem…”) introducing the main clause about the reaction of the elders of that city.

Bethlehem was located about eight kilometers (or five miles) south-southwest of Jerusalem.

The elders: see the comment on 4.3.

Trembling: see the comments on 13.7. No reason is given to explain why the elders were fearful or felt a sense of terror. Some scholars argue that the meaning of this verb here should be explained on the basis of a similar sounding verb in Arabic, meaning “set off in haste.” This understanding is apparently the basis for the Revised English Bible translation here and in 21.1 “in haste,” but this interpretation is not widely accepted.

Do you come peaceably? Some translations follow the Septuagint and a manuscript from Qumran and say “Is your visit peaceful, O seer?” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Anchor Bible). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project has no discussion of this textual problem. The Masoretic Text should be followed.

The Hebrew text contains a grammatical difficulty, in that the text says literally “and he [Samuel?] said, ‘Do you [singular] come peaceably?’ ” Many Hebrew manuscripts have the plural verb “and they asked.” The singular verb form is, however, easily explained as expressing the indefinite personal subject, as in 2 Sam 2.16.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .