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.

Exodus 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ⁹  book, and rehearse ¹⁰  it in Joshua’s hearing; ¹¹  for I will surely wipe out ¹²  the remembrance ¹³  of Amalek from under heaven.

Deuteronomy 25:19

25:19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he ¹⁴  is giving you as an inheritance, ¹⁵  you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven ¹⁶  – do not forget! ¹⁷ 

[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.”

[17:14]  ⁹ tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.

[17:14]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹² tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.

[17:14]  ¹³ sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.

[25:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “ the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[25:19]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”

[25:19]  ¹⁶ tn Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[25:19]  ¹⁷ sn This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1-33.