Took up the leg: the translation took up fails to capture the cultic significance of the cook’s action. Here, as in 10.4, Saul is being given food that should be eaten only by priests, according to the law of Moses. Saul is being given “the thigh that is raised.” See Lev 10.14-15 in New Revised Standard Version, which refers to the “thigh that is raised.” In this same passage Revised Standard Version says the “thigh that is offered.” It may be wise to state in a footnote that, because Saul is given the thigh in this verse and the two loaves of bread in 10.4, which only priests are supposed to eat, it is shown that his kingship is considered to be holy, or sacred. The Hebrew word translated leg in Revised Standard Version is better translated “thigh” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Fox) in languages which make such distinctions.
The upper portion: this represents a single word in Hebrew. It is rare but apparently means “what was on it” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “what went with it” (New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible). Various corrections have been proposed, which result in translations such as “the whole haunch and leg” (Revised English Bible), “the leg and the tail” (New Jerusalem Bible, Osty-Trinquet, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), and “the fat-tail” (Fox). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to the word in the Masoretic Text and suggests a translation similar to that found in New Revised Standard Version.
As the note in Good News Translation indicates, there is some question about whether the Masoretic Text says that it was the cook or Samuel who spoke to Saul. The Hebrew says “the cook set them before Saul and he said.” The most natural reading of the Hebrew is to assume that the cook is the subject of both verbs, set and said (so New Jerusalem Bible). Yet it is difficult to think that the cook, and not Samuel, would have spoken such words to Saul. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “And [Samuel] said,” showing by the use of brackets that the name “Samuel” is not in the Hebrew text. New Revised Standard Version, like Revised Standard Version, says “Samuel said.” New Jerusalem Bible, however, translates as follows: “This is for you. This is what was left. Make a good meal.” If this is the correct sense of the Hebrew, then one can more easily understand the cook speaking them, as indeed he does in New Jerusalem Bible. It is difficult to decide here, but since it is grammatically possible that the pronoun “he” refers to Samuel, this seems to be the better interpretation.
That you might eat with the guests: the Masoretic Text says “saying the people I have invited.” Revised Standard Version (also New Revised Standard Version) is based on a suggested correction. Revised English Bible (“to which I have invited the people”) is based on a different correction of the Hebrew text. New Jerusalem Bible does not even translate these words.
Part of the difficulty is that the meaning of the words “saying the people I have invited” is not clear in Hebrew. Is it Samuel or Saul who says “I have invited the people”? Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text and proposes the following translation: “so that you [Saul] may say, ‘It is I who have invited the people.’ ” On the other hand New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, like Good News Translation, retains Samuel as the speaker: “And [Samuel] said, ‘What has been reserved is set before you. Eat; it has been kept for you for this occasion, when I said I was inviting the people.’ ”
The variety of interpretations and suggested changes show that this is a difficult verse to understand in Hebrew. The following translation reflects the interpretation proposed in this Handbook (though some languages may need to avoid the embedded quotation at the end of the verse):
• So the cook lifted up the thigh and what went with it, which are to be eaten by the priests, and set them before Saul. And Samuel said to Saul, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed so that you may say ‘It is I who have invited the people.’ ”
Such a translation will probably require a footnote stating that Lev 10.14-15 says that the thigh belongs to the priests, and that this action suggests that Saul’s kingship is considered to be holy, that is, that God has chosen him.
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 .