1 Samuel 15:1-8

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.’”

15:4 So Saul assembled ⁵  the army ⁶  and mustered them at Telaim. There were 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. 15:5 Saul proceeded to the city ⁷  of Amalek, where he set an ambush ⁸  in the wadi. ⁹  15:6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  Shur, which is next to Egypt. 15:8 He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all Agag’s people ¹²  with the sword.

[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).

[15:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “caused the people to hear.”

[15:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “people.”

[15:5]  ⁷ tc The LXX has the plural here, “cities.”

[15:5]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn That is, “the dry stream bed.”

[15:6]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[as] you enter.”

[15:8]  ¹² tn Heb “all the people.” For clarity “Agag’s” has been supplied in the translation.