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.”
4 tc The LXX has the plural here, “cities.”
5 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]).
6 tn That is, “the dry stream bed.”
7 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]).
8 tn Heb “[as] you enter.”
9 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.
10 tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.
11 tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.
12 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.
13 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.
14 tn Heb “ the
15 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”
16 tn Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
17 sn This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1-33.