1 Samuel 15:17-20

15:17 Samuel said, “Is it not true that when you were insignificant in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord chose 1  you as king over Israel. 15:18 The Lord sent you on a campaign 2  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you 3  have destroyed them.’ 15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed 4  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” 5 

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed 6  the Lord! I went on the campaign 7  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

1 tn Heb “anointed.”

2 tn Heb “journey.”

3 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”).

4 tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

5 tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

6 tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

7 tn Heb “journey.”