How Old Was Saul? (1 Samuel 13:1)

Reading a Bible passage in different translations often gives us different perspectives of the passage’s meaning in its original language. However, that is not always the case. Consider how 1 Samuel 13:1 is rendered in the following two English Bible translations:

• NIV: “Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.”
• ASV: “Saul was forty years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,”

Being “thirty years old” is hardly a different perspective of being “forty years old”! What is happening here?

In the traditional Hebrew text of this verse, the expression for Saul’s age is ben šānāh, which does not contain a number at all. Hence, translations which contain a number like “thirty” or “forty” are not actually translating from the Hebrew text, but are simply guessing how old Saul was when he became king.

Without a number, the expression ben šānāh means “one year old”. However, it does not make sense that Saul was “one year old” when he became king. So, translators try other ways to make sense of the Hebrew text:

• The ESV says that “Saul lived for one year and then became king,”
• the KJV says that “Saul reigned one year,”
• and the CEV says that “Saul was a young man when he became king.”

However, none of these are reasonable translations of the expression ben šānāh.

The original Hebrew text of 1 Samuel 13:1 probably contained a number indicating Saul’s age. However, that number was accidentally omitted when the traditional Hebrew text of the verse became standardized. As a result no known Hebrew manuscript of the verse today contains that number, and our Bible translations should honestly reflect that reality:

Saul was ___ years old when he became king.

We may never know exactly what the original Hebrew text of 1 Samuel 13:1 read. In any case, however old Saul was when he became king, no essential element of the Christian faith is affected.