1 Samuel 15:17-21

15:17 Samuel said, “Is it not true that when you were insignificant in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord chose ¹  you as king over Israel. 15:18 The Lord sent you on a campaign ²  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ³  have destroyed them.’ 15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed ⁴  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” ⁵ 

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ⁶  the Lord! I went on the campaign ⁷  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites. 15:21 But the army took from the plunder some of the sheep and cattle – the best of what was to be slaughtered – to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

¹ tn Heb “anointed.”

² tn Heb “journey.”

³ tc The translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum in reading the second person singular suffix (“you”) rather than the third person plural suffix of the MT (“they”).

³ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

⁴ tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁴ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

⁵ tn Heb “journey.”