1 Samuel 15:1-3

Saul Is Rejected as King

15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “I was the one the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord says. ¹  15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ²  Israel along the way when Israel ³  came up from Egypt. 15:3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare ⁴  them. Put them to death – man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’”

1 Samuel 15:8-9

15:8 He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all Agag’s people ⁵  with the sword. 15:9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, ⁶  and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. ⁷  They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised ⁸  and worthless.

1 Samuel 15:11

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.

1 Samuel 15:19-22

15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed ⁹  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” ¹⁰ 

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ¹¹  the Lord! I went on the campaign ¹²  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.”

15:22 Then Samuel said,

“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as he does in obedience? ¹³ 

Certainly, ¹⁴  obedience ¹⁵  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ¹⁶  the fat of rams.

[15:1]  ¹ tn Heb “to the voice of the words of the Lord” (so KJV).

[15:2]  ² tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

[15:2]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:3]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).

[15:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “all the people.” For clarity “Agag’s” has been supplied in the translation.

[15:9]  ⁶ 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.)

[15:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “good.”

[15:9]  ⁸ 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).

[15:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ¹² tn Heb “journey.”

[15:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “look.”

[15:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22]  ¹⁶ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).