1 Samuel 15:2-3

15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ¹  Israel along the way when Israel ²  came up from Egypt. 15:3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare ³  them. Put them to death – man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’”

1 Samuel 15:18-23

15:18 The Lord sent you on a campaign ⁴  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ⁵  have destroyed them.’ 15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed ⁶  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” ⁷ 

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ⁸  the Lord! I went on the campaign ⁹  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites. 15:21 But 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.”

15:22 Then Samuel said,

“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as he does in obedience? ¹⁰ 

Certainly, ¹¹  obedience ¹²  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ¹³  the fat of rams.

15:23 For 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 as ¹⁴  king.”

---

¹ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).

⁴ tn Heb “journey.”

⁵ 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”).

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

⁷ tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

⁸ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

⁹ tn Heb “journey.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

¹¹ tn Heb “look.”

¹² tn Heb “listening.”

¹³ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

¹⁴ tn Or “from [being].”