1 Samuel 15

Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. So now listen to what the LORD says.

1Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.

NoteAnointing was the ceremony that made someone king: oil was poured over the head in front of witnesses. It was the act that transferred the office, the way a crown or an oath of office does in other cultures. Samuel is a prophet, a man understood to speak for the LORD, and he had performed this ceremony for Saul earlier.

2This is what the LORD of Armies says: 'I have not forgotten what Amalek did to Israel. The Amalekites ambushed them along the road when Israel came up from Egypt.'

2Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.

Note"The LORD of Armies" (King James: "LORD of hosts") is a standing title, not a description of this moment; the "hosts" are heavenly armies. "Amalek" is used here both as the name of the nation's ancestor and as a name for the people descended from him, which is why the verse shifts between "he" and "they." The Amalekites were a nomadic people of the desert south of Israel. The ambush referred to is the attack on the Israelites during their journey out of Egypt, remembered as a raid on the exhausted and the stragglers at the rear.

3Now go and attack Amalek. Destroy them completely, along with everything they own. Do not spare them. Put to death men and women, children and nursing babies, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys."

3Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

Note"Destroy them completely" translates a specific Hebrew term (herem) for placing something permanently beyond human use by handing it over to God. Applied to a city, it meant that nothing could be kept as plunder (no people, no animals, no goods) because everything taken had been forfeited to God rather than won by the army. It is a technical term for a category of war, and the whole chapter turns on it.

4So Saul called the army together and counted them at Telaim. There were two hundred thousand foot soldiers, plus ten thousand men from Judah.

4And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.

NoteTelaim was a town in the far south of Judah, near Amalekite territory. The Hebrew word translated "thousand" can also mean a military unit or clan contingent of unspecified size, so the figures may describe two hundred units and ten units rather than exact head counts.

5Saul came to the city of Amalek and waited in hiding in the valley.

5And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.

6Saul said to the Kenites, "Move on, get away from the Amalekites, or I will wipe you out along with them. You showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

6And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

NoteThe Kenites were a nomadic group living among the Amalekites but historically friendly to Israel; Moses' father-in-law is described elsewhere as a Kenite. The "kindness" is a debt from the wilderness years that Saul is honoring.

7Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which lies east of Egypt.

7And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.

NoteHavilah and Shur name the outer limits of the region rather than two towns: Shur lay on the desert edge between southern Canaan and Egypt, Havilah somewhere off to the east. The phrase is a way of saying "across the whole territory."

8He took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive, but he put all the people to death with the sword.

8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

9But Saul and the soldiers spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fattened calves and the lambs, and everything else that was good. They were not willing to destroy them. Only what was worthless and poor did they destroy.

9But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

Note"Fattened calves" were animals raised on grain rather than pasture, the most valuable livestock a raid could yield. The point of the verse is that the sorting was done by market value: what was worth money survived, what was not was destroyed.

10Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel:

10Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,

11"I regret that I made Saul king, because he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my commands." Samuel was troubled by this, and he cried out to the LORD all night.

11It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.

Note"I regret" translates a Hebrew verb (nacham) that covers being sorry, changing course, and relenting. It does not by itself say whether the speaker admits a mistake or simply turns from one course to another. The same verb reappears in verse 29, where Samuel says God does not do this, and in verse 35, the tension is in the Hebrew, not introduced by the translation.

12Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul. He was told, "Saul went to Carmel. There he set up a monument in his own honor. Then he turned and went on down to Gilgal."

12And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.

NoteThis Carmel is a town in the hill country of Judah, not the coastal Mount Carmel. The "monument" is literally "a hand" in Hebrew, a standing stone or marker set up to keep a name in memory after a victory. Gilgal was a long-established site for sacrifice and public assembly near the Jordan.

13When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD's command."

13And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.

14But Samuel said, "Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and this lowing of cattle that I hear?"

14And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

15Saul said, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites. They spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God. The rest we destroyed completely."

15And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

16Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop. Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." "Tell me," Saul said.

16Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.

17Samuel said, "Even when you thought little of yourself, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel,

17And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?

Note"Thought little of yourself" refers back to Saul's beginnings, when he hid from his own coronation and objected that he came from the smallest clan of the smallest tribe.

18and he sent you out on a mission. He said, 'Go and completely destroy those sinners, the Amalekites. Fight them until they are wiped out.'

18And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

19So why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the goods you took and do what is evil in the LORD's sight?"

19Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?

Note"The goods you took" (King James: "the spoil") means captured property, livestock, metal, cloth, anything portable. Plunder was the normal pay of an ancient army, which is why the ban in verse 3 was so costly.

20Saul said to Samuel, "But I did obey the LORD. I went on the mission the LORD sent me on. I brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites.

20And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

21The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the goods they captured, the best of what was supposed to be destroyed, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal."

21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

22Samuel said, "Does the LORD take as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying his voice? Listen: obeying is better than sacrifice, and paying attention is better than the fat of rams.

22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

NoteA burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar, keeping nothing back for the worshipers to eat, the most expensive form of sacrifice. In other offerings the fat around the internal organs was burned as God's portion while the meat was eaten, so "the fat of rams" stands for the choicest part of the ritual. Samuel is comparing two things his hearers valued, not dismissing sacrifice as such.

23Refusing to obey is as bad as the sin of consulting spirits, and being stubborn is as bad as wickedness and worshiping idols. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."

23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Note"Consulting spirits" (King James: "witchcraft") means divination, seeking hidden knowledge or the future by ritual means, which Israelite law forbade. The word behind "worshiping idols" is teraphim, household figurines used in the home and sometimes for divination. Both terms name ways of getting guidance from a source other than the one Saul was told to obey.

24Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I broke the LORD's command and your instructions, because I was afraid of the people and did what they said.

24And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

25Now please forgive my sin. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD."

25Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.

26But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel."

26And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

27As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the edge of his robe, and it tore.

27And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

NoteThe hem or edge of an outer robe carried a person's identity in this culture: it was pressed into clay to seal documents the way a signature does now. Tearing it off in a struggle is a charged act, and Samuel treats it as one in the next verse.

28Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and he has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

28And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

Note"A neighbor of yours" is deliberately unnamed here. The Hebrew word means a fellow Israelite or associate, not the man next door.

29Also, the Glory of Israel does not lie and does not change his mind. He is not a human being, that he should change his mind."

29And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

Note"The Glory of Israel" renders a Hebrew word (netzach) whose sense is disputed: it can mean glory, eminence, endurance, or lasting victory, which is why the King James translates it "the Strength of Israel." "Change his mind" is the same verb rendered "regret" in verses 11 and 35.

30Saul said, "I have sinned. But please honor me now in front of the elders of my people and in front of Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God."

30Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.

NoteThe elders were the heads of families and clans who governed local affairs and whose public backing a king depended on. Saul is asking not to be humiliated in front of the men whose support keeps him in power.

31So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

31So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.

32Then Samuel said, "Bring me Agag, king of the Amalekites." Agag came to him in good spirits. And Agag said, "Surely the bitter danger of death has passed."

32Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

NoteThe Hebrew describing how Agag came is obscure; ancient and modern translators have read it as "cheerfully," "in chains," "haltingly," and "trembling." His words are equally uncertain: they can be read as a statement of relief or as a bitter recognition that death is now at hand.

33But Samuel said, "Your sword has left women without their children, so your mother will be left without her child among women." And Samuel cut Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.

33And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

Note"Left women without their children" describes a mother whose children have been killed, a standard way of naming the human cost of a raid. Samuel is pronouncing a matching sentence, harm for harm, not describing a new event.

34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.

34Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.

NoteRamah was Samuel's hometown; Gibeah was Saul's, a few miles away. "Gibeah of Saul" distinguishes it from other places with the same name, which simply means "hill."

35Samuel never went to see Saul again as long as he lived, though he mourned for Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

35And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.