1 Samuel 13:12-13

13:12 I thought, ¹  ‘Now the Philistines will come down on me at Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt obligated ²  to offer the burnt offering.”

13:13 Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed ³  the commandment that the Lord your God gave ⁴  you. Had you done that, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever!

1 Samuel 14:18

14:18 So Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ephod,” ⁵  for he was at that time wearing the ephod. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 15:21-22

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? ⁷ 

Certainly, ⁸  obedience ⁹  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ¹⁰  the fat of rams.

Deuteronomy 12:6

12:6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ¹¹  your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Deuteronomy 12:1

The Central Sanctuary

12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ¹²  has given you to possess. ¹³ 

Deuteronomy 3:4

3:4 We captured all his cities at that time – there was not a town we did not take from them – sixty cities, all the region of Argob, ¹⁴  the dominion of Og in Bashan.

Psalms 37:7

37:7 Wait patiently for the Lord! ¹⁵ 

Wait confidently ¹⁶  for him!

Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner, ¹⁷ 

a man who carries out wicked schemes!

Proverbs 15:8

15:8 The Lord abhors ¹⁸  the sacrifices ¹⁹  of the wicked, ²⁰ 

but the prayer ²¹  of the upright pleases him. ²² 

Proverbs 20:22

20:22 Do not say, ²³  “I will pay back ²⁴  evil!”

Wait ²⁵  for the Lord, so that he may vindicate you. ²⁶ 

Proverbs 21:3

21:3 To do righteousness and justice

is more acceptable ²⁷  to the Lord than sacrifice. ²⁸ 

Proverbs 21:27

21:27 The wicked person’s sacrifice ²⁹  is an abomination;

how much more ³⁰  when he brings it with evil intent! ³¹ 

Isaiah 66:3

66:3 The one who slaughters a bull also strikes down a man; ³² 

the one who sacrifices a lamb also breaks a dog’s neck; ³³ 

the one who presents an offering includes pig’s blood with it; ³⁴ 

the one who offers incense also praises an idol. ³⁵ 

They have decided to behave this way; ³⁶ 

they enjoy these disgusting practices. ³⁷ 

[13:12]  ¹ tn Heb “said.”

[13:12]  ² tn Or “I forced myself” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, CEV); NAB “So in my anxiety I offered”; NIV “I felt compelled.”

[13:13]  ³ tn Or “kept.”

[13:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “commanded.”

[14:18]  ⁵ tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v.19. This reading is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, TEV, NLT).

[14:18]  ⁶ tc Heb “for the ark of God was in that day, and the sons of Israel.” The translation follows the text of some Greek manuscripts. See the previous note.

[15:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “look.”

[15:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22]  ¹⁰ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

[12:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

[12:1]  ¹² tn Heb “fathers.”

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “you must be careful to obey in the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days which you live in the land.” This adverbial statement modifies “to obey,” not “to possess,” so the order in the translation has been rearranged to make this clear.

[3:4]  ¹⁴ sn Argob. This is a subdistrict of Bashan, perhaps north of the Yarmuk River. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 314.

[37:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Be quiet before the Lord!”

[37:7]  ¹⁶ tc The Hebrew text has וְהִתְחוֹלֵל (vÿhitkholel, Hitpolel of חִיל, khil, “writhe with fear, suffer”) but this idea fits awkwardly here. The text should be changed to וְתוֹחֵל (vÿtokhel; Hiphil of יָחַל, yakhal, “wait”). It appears that the Hebrew text is the product of dittography: (1) the initial וה (vav-he) is accidentally repeated from the preceding word (יְהוָה, yÿhvah) and (2) the final lamed (ל) is accidentally repeated (note the preceding lamed and the initial lamed on the following form, לו).

[37:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “over one who causes his way to be successful.”

[15:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions as a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.” Cf. NIV “the Lord detests”; NCV, NLT “the Lord hates”; CEV “the Lord is disgusted.”

[15:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).

[15:8]  ²⁰ sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the Lord because the worshipers are insincere and blasphemous (e.g., Prov 15:29; 21:3; 28:9; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:10-17). In other words, the spiritual condition of the worshiper determines whether or not the worship is acceptable to God.

[15:8]  ²¹ sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).

[15:8]  ²² tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.

[20:22]  ²³ tn The verse is directly instructive; it begins with the negated jussive in the first colon, and follows with the imperative in the second. It warns that the righteous should not take vengeance on the wicked, for only God can do that.

[20:22]  ²⁴ tn The form is the Piel cohortative of resolve – “I am determined to pay back.” The verb שָׁלֵם (shalem) means “to be complete; to be sound.” In this stem, however, it can mean “to make complete; to make good; to requite; to recompense” (KJV, ASV). The idea is “getting even” by paying back someone for the evil done.

[20:22]  ²⁵ sn To “wait” (קַוֵּה, qavveh) on the Lord requires faith in him, reliance on divine justice, and patience. It means that the wrongs done to a person will have to be endured for a time.

[20:22]  ²⁶ tn After the imperative, the jussive is subordinated in a purpose or result clause: “wait for the Lord so that he may deliver you.” The verb יֹשַׁע (yosha’) means “to save (KJV, ASV, NASB); to deliver (NIV); to give victory”; in this context it means “deliver from the evil done to you,” and so “vindicate” is an appropriate connotation. Cf. NCV “he will make things right.”

[21:3]  ²⁷ tn The Niphal participle בָּחַר (bakhar, “to choose”) means “choice to the Lord” or “chosen of the Lord,” meaning “acceptable to the Lord”; cf. TEV “pleases the Lord more.”

[21:3]  ²⁸ sn The Lord prefers righteousness above religious service (e.g., Prov 15:8; 21:29; 1 Sam 15:22; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:11-17). This is not a rejection of ritual worship; rather, religious acts are without value apart from righteous living.

[21:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the sacrifice of the wicked” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This is a subjective genitive. The foundational clause states that ritual acts of worship brought by the wicked (thus a subjective genitive) are detestable to God. The “wicked” refers here to people who are not members of the covenant (no faith) and are not following after righteousness (no acceptable works). But often they participate in sanctuary ritual, which amounts to hypocrisy.

[21:27]  ³⁰ sn This rhetorical device shows that if the act is abomination, the wicked heart is an even greater sin. It argues from the lesser to the greater.

[21:27]  ³¹ tn The noun זִמָּה (zimmah) means “plan; device; wickedness”; here it indicates that the person is coming to the ritual with “sinful purpose.” Some commentators suggest that this would mean he comes with the sacrifice as a bribe to pacify his conscience for a crime committed, over which he has little remorse or intent to cease (cf. NLT “with ulterior motives”). In this view, people in ancient Israel came to think that sacrifices could be given for any reason without genuine submission to God.

[66:3]  ³² tn Heb “one who slaughters a bull, one who strikes down a man.” Some understand a comparison here and in the following lines. In God’s sight the one who sacrifices is like (i.e., regarded as) a murderer or one whose worship is ritually defiled or idolatrous. The translation above assumes that the language is not metaphorical, but descriptive of the sinners’ hypocritical behavior. (Note the last two lines of the verse, which suggests they are guilty of abominable practices.) On the one hand, they act pious and offer sacrifices; but at the same time they commit violent crimes against men, defile their sacrifices, and worship other gods.

[66:3]  ³³ tn Heb “one who sacrifices a lamb, one who breaks a dog’s neck.” Some understand a comparison, but see the previous note.

[66:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “one who offers an offering, pig’s blood.” Some understand a comparison, but see the note at the end of the first line.

[66:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “one who offers incense as a memorial offering, one who blesses something false.” Some understand a comparison, but see the note at the end of the first line. אָוֶן (’aven), which has a wide variety of attested nuances, here refers metonymically to an idol. See HALOT 22 s.v. and BDB 20 s.v. 2.

[66:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “also they have chosen their ways.”

[66:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “their being [or “soul”] takes delight in their disgusting [things].”