This study applies sev­er­al lin­guis­tic approach­es to the book of Samuel in order to inves­ti­gate the defin­ing fea­tures of metaphor and the way metaphor and oth­er forms of fig­u­ra­tive lan­guage oper­ate in bib­li­cal nar­ra­tive. The book begins with an explo­ration of how to iden­ti­fy and inter­pret the metaphors in 1 Samuel 25. Next, the metaphors in 2 Samuel 16:16 – 17:14 are com­pared with oth­er tropes, pri­mar­i­ly metonymy and sim­i­le. Then the notion of ​“dead” metaphors is chal­lenged while exam­in­ing the fig­u­ra­tive lan­guage in 1 Samuel 24. An in-depth analy­sis of the fig­u­ra­tive lan­guage in these texts results in a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the mechan­ics of metaphor, and a rich­er, more nuanced read­ing of these sto­ries, their char­ac­ters, and language.