1 Samuel 15:2-5

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.’”

15:4 So Saul assembled ⁴  the army ⁵  and mustered them at Telaim. There were 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. 15:5 Saul proceeded to the city ⁶  of Amalek, where he set an ambush ⁷  in the wadi. ⁸ 

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 “caused the people to hear.”

⁵ tn Heb “people.”

⁶ tc The LXX has the plural here, “cities.”

⁷ tc The translation follows the LXX and Vulgate which assume a reading וַיָּאָרֶב (vayya’arev, “and he set an ambush,” from the root ארב [’rv] with quiescence of alef) rather than the MT, which has וַיָּרֶב (vayyareb, “and he contended,” from the root ריב [ryv]).

⁸ tn That is, “the dry stream bed.”