1 Samuel 15:9

15:9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, 1  and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. 2  They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised 3  and worthless.

1 Samuel 15:23-26

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 4  king.”

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded 5  and what you said as well. 6  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. 7  15:25 Now please forgive my sin! Go back with me so I can worship 8  the Lord.”

15:26 Samuel 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!”

1 tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. We should probably read וְהַמַּשְׂמַנִּים (vÿhammasmannim, “the fat ones”) rather than the MT וְהַמִּשְׂנִים (vÿhammisnim, “the second ones”). However, if the MT is retained, the sense may be as the Jewish commentator Kimchi supposed: the second-born young, thought to be better than the firstlings. (For discussion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 123-24.)

2 tn Heb “good.”

3 tc The MT has here the very odd form נְמִבְזָה (nÿmivzah), but this is apparently due to a scribal error. The translation follows instead the Niphal participle נִבְזָה (nivzah).

4 tn Or “from [being].”

5 tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

6 tn Heb “and your words.”

7 tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

8 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.