1-samuel 13:1
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
American King James Version (AKJV)
Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
American Standard Version (ASV)
Saul was forty years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
Basic English Translation (BBE)
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Webster's Revision
Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
World English Bible
Saul was [forty] years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
English Revised Version (ERV)
Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years over Israel.
Clarke's 1-samuel 13:1 Bible Commentary
Saul reigned one year - A great deal of learned labor has been employed and lost on this verse, to reconcile it with propriety and common sense. I shall not recount the meanings put on it. I think this clause belongs to the preceding chapter, either as a part of the whole, or a chronological note added afterwards; as if the writer had said, These things (related in 1 Samuel 12:1-25) took place in the first year of Saul's reign: and then he proceeds in the next place to tell us what took place in the second year, the two most remarkable years of Saul's reign. In the first he is appointed, anointed, and twice confirmed, viz., at Mizpeh and at Gilgal; in the second, Israel is brought into the lowest state of degradation by the Philistines, Saul acts unconstitutionally, and is rejected from being king. These things were worthy of an especial chronological note.
And when he had reigned - This should begin the chapter, and be read thus: "And when Saul had reigned two years over Israel, he chose him three thousand," etc. The Septuagint has left the clause out of the text entirely, and begins the chapter thus: "And Saul chose to himself three thousand men out of the men of Israel."
Barnes's 1-samuel 13:1 Bible Commentary
The text of this verse, omitted by the Septuagint, is held to be corrupt, and the numerals denoting Saul's age at his accession as well as the duration of his reign, are thought to be omitted or faulty. Saul may have been about 30 at his accession, and have reigned some 32 years, since we know that his grandson Mephibosheth was five years old at Saul's death 2 Samuel 4:4; and 32 added to the seven and a half years between the death of Saul and that of Ishbosheth, makes up the 40 years assigned to Saul's dynasty in Acts 13:21. Neither is there any clue to the interval of time between the events recorded in the preceding chapter, and those which follow in this and succeeding chapters. But the appearance of Jonathan as a warrior 1 Samuel 13:2 compared with the mention of Saul as "a young man" 1 Samuel 9:2, implies an interval of not less than ten or fifteen years, perhaps more. The object of the historian is to prepare the way for the history of David's reign. He therefore passes at once to that incident in Saul's reign, which led to his rejection by God, as recorded in 1 Samuel 13:13-14.
