1 Samuel 15:3-7

15:3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare ¹  them. Put them to death – man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’”

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.

[15:3]  ¹ tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).

[15:4]  ² tn Heb “caused the people to hear.”

[15:4]  ³ tn Heb “people.”

[15:5]  ⁴ tc The LXX has the plural here, “cities.”

[15:5]  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]).

[15:5]  ⁶ tn That is, “the dry stream bed.”

[15:6]  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]).

[15:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “[as] you enter.”