1 Samuel 15:18-24

15:18 The Lord sent you on a campaign ¹  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ²  have destroyed them.’ 15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed ³  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” ⁴ 

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ⁵  the Lord! I went on the campaign ⁶  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? ⁷ 

Certainly, ⁸  obedience ⁹  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ¹⁰  the fat of rams.

15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

and presumption is like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has rejected you as ¹¹  king.”

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ¹²  and what you said as well. ¹³  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 15:1

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. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 20:42--21:1

20:42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn together in the name of the Lord saying, ‘The Lord will be between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’”

David Goes to Nob

(21:1)

¹⁶ Then David ¹⁷  got up and left, while Jonathan went back to the city. 21:1 (21:2) David went to Ahimelech the priest in Nob. Ahimelech was shaking with fear when he met ¹⁸  David, and said to him, “Why are you by yourself with no one accompanying you?”

[15:18]  ¹ tn Heb “journey.”

[15:18]  ² 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”).

[15:19]  ³ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “journey.”

[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).

[15:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “from [being].”

[15:24]  ¹² tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

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

[20:42]  ¹⁶ sn Beginning with 20:42b, the verse numbers through 21:15 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 20:42b ET = 21:1 HT, 21:1 ET = 21:2 HT, 21:2 ET = 21:3 HT, etc., through 21:15 ET = 21:16 HT. With 22:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[20:42]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “trembled to meet.”