15:4 So Saul assembled 2 the army 3 and mustered them at Telaim. There were 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. 15:5 Saul proceeded to the city 4 of Amalek, where he set an ambush 5 in the wadi. 6 15:6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away 7 with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.
15:7 Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to 8 Shur, which is next to Egypt.
17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the 9 book, and rehearse 10 it in Joshua’s hearing; 11 for I will surely wipe out 12 the remembrance 13 of Amalek from under heaven.
1 tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).
2 tn Heb “caused the people to hear.”
3 tn Heb “people.”
3 tc The LXX has the plural here, “cities.”
4 tc The translation follows the LXX and Vulgate which assume a reading וַיָּאָרֶב (vayya’arev, “and he set an ambush,” from the root ארב [’rv] with quiescence of alef) rather than the MT, which has וַיָּרֶב (vayyareb, “and he contended,” from the root ריב [ryv]).
5 tn That is, “the dry stream bed.”
4 tc The translation follows the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate which assume a reading אֶסִפְךָ (’esfÿka, “I sweep you away,” from the root ספה [sfh]) rather than the MT אֹסִפְךָ (’osifÿka, “I am gathering you,” from the root אסף[’sf]).
5 tn Heb “[as] you enter.”
6 tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.
7 tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.
8 tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.
9 tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.
10 sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.
7 tn Heb “ the
8 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”
9 tn Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
10 sn This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1-33.