1 Samuel 15:8-20

15:8 He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all Agag’s people ¹  with the sword. 15:9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, ²  and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. ³  They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised ⁴  and worthless.

15:10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I told him to do.” Samuel became angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

15:12 Then Samuel got up early to meet Saul the next morning. But Samuel was informed, “Saul has gone to Carmel where ⁵  he is setting up a monument for himself. Then Samuel left ⁶  and went down to Gilgal.” ⁷  15:13 When Samuel came to him, ⁸  Saul said to him, “May the Lord bless you! I have done what the Lord said.”

15:14 Samuel replied, “If that is the case, ⁹  then what is this sound of sheep in my ears and the sound of cattle that I hear?” 15:15 Saul said, “They were brought ¹⁰  from the Amalekites; the army spared the best of the flocks and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord our God. But everything else we slaughtered.”

15:16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait a minute! ¹¹  Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” Saul ¹²  said to him, “Tell me.” 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 ¹³  you as king over Israel. 15:18 The Lord sent you on a campaign ¹⁴  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ¹⁵  have destroyed them.’ 15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed ¹⁶  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” ¹⁷ 

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ¹⁸  the Lord! I went on the campaign ¹⁹  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

¹ tn Heb “all the people.” For clarity “Agag’s” has been supplied in the translation.

² tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. We should probably read וְהַמַּשְׂמַנִּים (vÿhammasmannim, “the fat ones”) rather than the MT וְהַמִּשְׂנִים (vÿhammisnim, “the second ones”). However, if the MT is retained, the sense may be as the Jewish commentator Kimchi supposed: the second-born young, thought to be better than the firstlings. (For discussion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 123-24.)

³ tn Heb “good.”

⁴ tc The MT has here the very odd form נְמִבְזָה (nÿmivzah), but this is apparently due to a scribal error. The translation follows instead the Niphal participle נִבְזָה (nivzah).

⁵ tn Heb “and look.”

⁶ tn Heb “and he turned and crossed over.”

⁷ tc At the end of v. 12 the LXX and one Old Latin ms include the following words not found in the MT: “to Saul. And behold, he was offering as a burnt offering to the Lord the best of the spoils that he had brought from the Amalekites.”

⁸ tn Heb “to Saul.”

⁹ tn The words “if that is the case” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁰ tn Heb “they brought them.”

¹¹ tn Or perhaps “be quiet.”

¹² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the singular (“he said”) rather than the plural (“they said”) of the Kethib.

¹³ tn Heb “anointed.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “journey.”

¹⁵ 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”).

¹⁶ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “journey.”