1 Samuel 15:18-24

15:18 The Lord sent you on a campaign ¹  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ²  have destroyed them.’ 15:19 Why haven’t you obeyed ³  the Lord? Instead you have greedily rushed upon the plunder! You have done what is wrong in the Lord’s estimation.” ⁴ 

15:20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ⁵  the Lord! I went on the campaign ⁶  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? ⁷ 

Certainly, ⁸  obedience ⁹  is better than sacrifice;

paying attention is better than ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  king.”

15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have disobeyed what the Lord commanded ¹²  and what you said as well. ¹³  For I was afraid of the army, and I followed their wishes. ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 15:1

Saul Is Rejected as King

15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “I was the one the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord says. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 10:13-14

10:13 When Saul ¹⁶  had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

10:14 Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?” Saul ¹⁷  replied, “To look for the donkeys. But when we realized they were lost, ¹⁸  we went to Samuel.”

Roma 3:9

The Condemnation of the World

3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin,

[15:18]  ¹ tn Heb “journey.”

[15:18]  ² 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”).

[15:19]  ³ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “journey.”

[15:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord.”

[15:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “look.”

[15:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “listening.”

[15:22]  ¹⁰ tn The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).

[15:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “from [being].”

[15:24]  ¹² tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.”

[15:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “and your words.”

[15:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I listened to their voice.”

[15:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to the voice of the words of the Lord” (so KJV).

[10:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And we saw that they were not.”