1 Samuel 15:32

Samuel Puts Agag to Death

15:32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of the Amalekites.” So Agag came to him trembling, ¹  thinking to himself, ²  “Surely death is bitter!” ³ 

1 Samuel 5:11

5:11 So they assembled ⁴  all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us ⁵  and our ⁶  people!” The terror ⁷  of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 15:35

15:35 Until the day he ⁹  died Samuel did not see Saul again. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Taking an oath, David again ¹⁰  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ¹¹  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ¹²  ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!”

1 Samuel 20:31

20:31 For as long as ¹³  this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men ¹⁴  and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 26:16

26:16 This failure on your part isn’t good! ¹⁶  As surely as the Lord lives, you people who have not protected your lord, the Lord’s chosen one, are as good as dead! ¹⁷  Now look where the king’s spear and the jug of water that was by his head are!”

[15:32]  ¹ tn The MT reading מַעֲדַנֹּת (ma’adannot, literally, “bonds,” used here adverbially, “in bonds”) is difficult. The word is found only here and in Job 38:31. Part of the problem lies in determining the root of the word. Some scholars have taken it to be from the root ענד (’nd, “to bind around”), but this assumes a metathesis of two of the letters of the root. Others take it from the root עדן (’dn) with the meaning “voluptuously,” but this does not seem to fit the context. It seems better to understand the word to be from the root מעד (m’d, “to totter” or “shake”). In that case it describes the fear that Agag experienced in realizing the mortal danger that he faced as he approached Samuel. This is the way that the LXX translators understood the word, rendering it by the Greek participle τρέμον (tremon, “trembling”).

[15:32]  ² tn Heb “and Agag said.”

[15:32]  ³ tc The text is difficult here. With the LXX, two Old Latin mss, and the Syriac Peshitta it is probably preferable to delete סָר (sar, “is past”) of the MT; it looks suspiciously like a dittograph of the following word מַר (mar, “bitter”). This further affects the interpretation of Agag’s comment. In the MT he comes to Samuel confidently assured that the danger is over (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV “Surely the bitterness of death is past,” along with NLT, CEV). However, it seems more likely that Agag realized that his fortunes had suddenly taken a turn for the worse and that the clemency he had enjoyed from Saul would not be his lot from Samuel. The present translation thus understands Agag to approach not confidently but in the stark realization that his death is imminent (“Surely death is bitter!”). Cf. NAB “So it is bitter death!”; NRSV “Surely this is the bitterness of death”; TEV “What a bitter thing it is to die!”

[5:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they sent and gathered.”

[5:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “me.”

[5:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “my.”

[5:11]  ⁷ tn Or “panic.”

[5:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “the hand of God was very heavy there.”

[15:35]  ⁹ tn That is, Samuel.

[20:3]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”

[20:3]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:3]  ¹² tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.

[20:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “all the days that.”

[20:31]  ¹⁴ tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a son of death.”

[26:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Not good [is] this thing which you have done.”

[26:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you are sons of death.”