^15:17Samuel said, “Is it not true that when you were insignificant in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord chose²⁴ you as king over Israel. ^15:18The Lord sent you on a campaign²⁵ saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you²⁶ have destroyed them.’ ^15:19Why haven’t you obeyed²⁷ the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.”²⁸

^15:20Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed²⁹ the Lord! I went on the campaign³⁰ the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites. ^15:21But 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.”

^15:22Then Samuel said,

“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as he does in obedience?³¹

Certainly,³² obedience³³ is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than³⁴ the fat of rams.

^15:23For 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 as³⁵ king.”

^15:24Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded³⁶ and what you said as well.³⁷ For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes.³⁸^15:25Now please forgive my sin! Go back with me so I can worship³⁹ the Lord.”

^15:26Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel!”

^15:27When Samuel turned to leave, Saul⁴⁰ grabbed the edge of his robe and it tore. ^15:28Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to one of your colleagues who is better than you! ^15:29The Preeminent One⁴¹ of Israel does not go back on his word⁴² or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.”⁴³^15:30Saul⁴⁴ again replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Go back with me so I may worship the Lord your God.” ^15:31So Samuel followed Saul back, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

Samuel Puts Agag to Death

^15:32Then Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of the Amalekites.” So Agag came to him trembling,⁴⁵ thinking to himself,⁴⁶ “Surely death is bitter!”⁴⁷^15:33Samuel said, “Just as your sword left women childless, so your mother will be the most bereaved among women!” Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces there in Gilgal before the Lord.

Read in Logos

1 Samuel 15:22: “Has 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 listen than the fat of rams.”

Footnotes

24 Heb “anointed.”
25 Heb “journey.”
26 The translation follows the , the , and the in reading the second person singular suffix (“you”) rather than the third person plural suffix of the (“they”).
27 Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”
28 Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
29 Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”
30 Heb “journey.”
31 Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”
32 Heb “look.”
33 Heb “listening.”
34 The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).
35 Or “from [being].”
36 Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”
37 Heb “and your words.”
38 Heb “and I listened to their voice.”
39 Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.
40 Heb “he,” but Saul is clearly the referent. A Qumran and the include the name “Saul” here.
41 Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord.
42 Or perhaps “does not lie.”
43 This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Change His Mind?” 152 (1995): .
44 Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
45 The reading מַעֲדַנֹּת (ma’adannot, literally, “bonds,” used here adverbially, “in bonds”) is difficult. The word is found only here and in Job 38:31. Part of the problem lies in determining the root of the word. Some scholars have taken it to be from the root ענד (’nd, “to bind around”), but this assumes a metathesis of two of the letters of the root. Others take it from the root עדן (’dn) with the meaning “voluptuously,” but this does not seem to fit the context. It seems better to understand the word to be from the root מעד (m’d, “to totter” or “shake”). In that case it describes the fear that Agag experienced in realizing the mortal danger that he faced as he approached Samuel. This is the way that the translators understood the word, rendering it by the Greek participle τρέμον (tremon, “trembling”).
46 Heb “and Agag said.”
47 The text is difficult here. With the , two Old Latin , and the it is probably preferable to delete סָר (sar, “is past”) of the ; it looks suspiciously like a dittograph of the following word מַר (mar, “bitter”). This further affects the interpretation of Agag’s comment. In the he comes to Samuel confidently assured that the danger is over (cf. , , “Surely the bitterness of death is past,” along with , ). However, it seems more likely that Agag realized that his fortunes had suddenly taken a turn for the worse and that the clemency he had enjoyed from Saul would not be his lot from Samuel. The present translation thus understands Agag to approach not confidently but in the stark realization that his death is imminent (“Surely death is bitter!”). Cf. “So it is bitter death!”; “Surely this is the bitterness of death”; “What a bitter thing it is to die!”