1 Samuel 15:22

15:22 Then Samuel said,

“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as he does in obedience? ¹ 

Certainly, ²  obedience ³  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ⁴  the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 15:24

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ⁵  and what you said as well. ⁶  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ⁷ 

Ephesians 5:6

Live in the Light

5:6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. ⁸ 

Ephesians 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ⁹  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Ephesians 1:9

1:9 He did this when he revealed ¹⁰  to us the secret ¹¹  of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth ¹²  in Christ, ¹³ 

[15:22]  ¹ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22]  ² tn Heb “look.”

[15:22]  ³ tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22]  ⁴ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

[15:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

[5:6]  ⁸ sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 2:2-3.

[5:1]  ⁹ tn Or “become.”

[1:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “He did this by revealing”; Grk “making known, revealing.” Verse 9 begins with a participle dependent on “lavished” in v. 8; the adverbial participle could be understood as temporal (“when he revealed”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “lavished,” or as means (“by revealing”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “mystery.” In the NT μυστήριον (musthrion) refers to a divine secret previously undisclosed.

[1:9]  ¹² tn Or “purposed,” “publicly displayed.” Cf. Rom 3:25.

[1:9]  ¹³ tn Grk “in him”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.