Preaching 1 Sam 13 from the ESV

In preaching 1 Sam 13 from the ESV i was hoping for some feedback. The passage is...

Saul was … years old when he began to reign, and he reigned … and two years over Israel. Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent. Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear." And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal. And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. (1Sa 13:1-7)


My question is how you would advise to read the first verse which contains the ellipses.

I thought that it might be appropriate to simply start reading from verse 2 (as the Septuagint has it rendered)...but was wanting some counsel.

Wow, Larry, that's almost enough to make a man KJVO. What would Theodore Letis say? LOL. (I think the ESV follows its parent the RSV in this case.) I am looking at a NKJV and the marginal note at this verse says "Heb. is difficult." The NKJV in v. 1 reads "Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel," Is this following the Septuagint rendering?

What the Masoretic text says is:
“Saul was a son of a year in his reigning and two years he reigned over Israel.”


The Septuagint omits the entire verse (except for a few late Septuagint copies which have Saul as 30 years old when he began to reign).

This is more of a preaching question than a textual question. The textual issue is very important, but more complex than i was wanting to delve into for now.