1 Samuel 15
15
Saul Disobeys the Lord
1 #
1 S 10.1. One day, Samuel told Saul:
The Lord told me to choose you to be king of his people, Israel. Now listen to this message from the Lord: 2#Ex 17.8-14; Dt 25.17-19. “When the Israelites were on their way out of Egypt, the nation of Amalek attacked them. I am the Lord All-Powerful, and now I am going to make Amalek pay!
3“Go and attack the Amalekites! Destroy them and all their possessions. Don't have any pity. Kill their men, women, children, and even their babies. Slaughter their cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys.”
4Saul sent messengers who told every town and village to send men to join the army at Telaim. There were 210,000 troops in all, and 10,000 of these were from Judah. Saul organized them, 5then led them to a valley near one of the towns in#15.5 one … in: Or “the town of.” Amalek, where they got ready to make a surprise attack. 6Some Kenites lived nearby, and Saul told them, “Your people were kind to our nation when we left Egypt, and I don't want you to get killed when I wipe out the Amalekites. So stay away from them.”
The Kenites left, 7and Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah#15.7 from Havilah: Or “from the valley” (see 15.5). to Shur, which is just east of Egypt. 8Every Amalekite was killed except King Agag. 9Saul and his army let Agag live, and they also spared the best sheep and cattle. They didn't want to destroy anything of value, so they only killed the animals that were worthless or weak.#15.9 animals … weak: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
The Lord Rejects Saul
10The Lord told Samuel, 11“Saul has stopped obeying me, and I'm sorry that I made him king.”
Samuel was angry, and he cried out in prayer to the Lord all night. 12Early the next morning he went to talk with Saul. Someone told him, “Saul went to Carmel, where he had a monument built so everyone would remember his victory. Then he left for Gilgal.”
13Samuel finally caught up with Saul,#15.13 Saul: One ancient translation adds “Saul had sacrificed to the Lord the best animals they had taken from Amalek, when Samuel came up to him.” and Saul told him, “I hope the Lord will bless you! I have done what the Lord told me.”
14“Then why,” Samuel asked, “do I hear sheep and cattle?”
15“The army took them from the Amalekites,” Saul explained. “They kept the best sheep and cattle, so they could sacrifice them to the Lord your God. But we destroyed everything else.”
16“Stop!” Samuel said. “Let me tell you what the Lord told me last night.”
“All right,” Saul answered.
17Samuel continued, “You may not think you're very important, but the Lord chose you to be king, and you are in charge of the tribes of Israel. 18When the Lord sent you on this mission, he told you to wipe out those worthless Amalekites. 19Why didn't you listen to the Lord? Why did you keep the animals and make him angry?”
20“But I did listen to the Lord!” Saul answered. “He sent me on a mission, and I went. I captured King Agag and destroyed his nation. 21All the animals were going to be destroyed#15.21 animals … destroyed: The Hebrew means things that were set aside for God. They could not be used for anything else, so they had to be destroyed. anyway. That's why the army brought the best sheep and cattle to Gilgal as sacrifices to the Lord your God.”
22“Tell me,” Samuel said. “Does the Lord really want sacrifices and offerings? No! He doesn't want your sacrifices. He wants you to obey him. 23Rebelling against God or disobeying him because you are proud is just as bad as worshiping idols or asking them for advice. You refused to do what God told you, so God has decided that you can no longer be king.”
24“I have sinned,” Saul admitted. “I disobeyed both you and the Lord. I was afraid of the army, and I listened to them instead. 25Please forgive me and come back with me so I can worship the Lord.”
26“No!” Samuel replied, “You disobeyed the Lord, and I won't go back with you. Now the Lord has said that you can't be king of Israel any longer.”
27 #
1 S 28.17; 1 K 11.30,31. As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the edge of Samuel's robe. It tore! 28Samuel said, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and he will give it to someone who is better than you. 29Besides, the eternal#15.29 eternal: Or “glorious.” God of Israel isn't a human being. He doesn't tell lies or change his mind.”
30Saul said, “I did sin, but please honor me in front of the leaders of the army and the people of Israel. Come back with me, so I can worship the Lord your God.”
31Samuel followed Saul back, and Saul worshiped the Lord. 32Then Samuel shouted, “Bring me King Agag of Amalek!”
Agag came in chains,#15.32 in chains: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. and he was saying to himself, “Surely they won't kill me now.”#15.32 Surely … now: Hebrew; one ancient translation “It would have been better to die in battle!”
33But Samuel said, “Agag, you have snatched children from their mothers' arms and killed them. Now your mother will be without children.” Then Samuel chopped Agag to pieces at the place of worship in Gilgal.
34Samuel went home to Ramah, and Saul returned to his home in Gibeah. 35Even though Samuel felt sad about Saul, Samuel never saw him again.
The Lord Chooses David To Be King
The Lord was sorry he had made Saul the king of Israel.
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1 Samuel 15: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
1 Samuel 15
15
The Lord Rejects Saul
1#1Sa 9:16; 10:1Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the words of the Lord. 2#Dt 25:17–19; Ex 17:8–16Thus says the Lord of Hosts, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3#Nu 24:20; Dt 20:16–18Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not have compassion on them but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
4#Jos 15:24So Saul summoned the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5Then Saul came to the city of Amalek and laid an ambush in the valley. 6#Jdg 1:16; Ex 18:19Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7#Ge 16:7; 25:18Then Saul struck the Amalekites from Havilah until you come to Shur, which is near Egypt. 8#1Sa 30:1; Nu 24:7He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9#1Sa 15:15; 15:3But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, and lambs. And of all that was good, they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But everything that was despised and weak, that they completely destroyed.
10Then came the word of the Lord to Samuel, saying, 11#Ge 6:6; 1Sa 13:13“I regret that I have set up Saul to be king because he has turned back from following Me, and he has not carried out My words.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried to the Lord all night.
12#Jos 15:55; 1Sa 25:2When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel and set himself up a monument. Then he turned and has passed on down to Gilgal.”
13#Ge 14:19; Jdg 17:2Samuel came to Saul. And Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord. I have carried out the word of the Lord.”
14Samuel said, “Then what is the sound of this flock of sheep in my ears? And the sound of the cattle which I am hearing?”
15#1Sa 15:9; 15:21And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop, and I will tell you what the Lord spoke to me this night.”
And he said to him, “Speak.”
17#1Sa 9:21; 10:22Samuel said, “When you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel? 18And the Lord sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are destroyed.’ 19#1Sa 14:32Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? And why did you rush upon the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20#1Sa 15:13And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. And I have followed in the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21#1Sa 15:15; Ex 32:22–23But the people took from the plunder sheep and oxen, the first fruits of the banned things to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22#Hos 6:6; Jer 7:22–23; Mic 6:6–8Samuel said,
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
a listening ear than the fat of rams.
23#1Sa 13:14 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He has also rejected you from being king.”
24#2Sa 12:13; Pr 29:25Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. For I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. 25#Ex 10:17Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
26#1Sa 13:14; 16:1Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27As Samuel turned about to go, he seized the edge of his robe and it tore. 28#1Sa 28:17–18Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. 29#Nu 23:19; Eze 24:14; Titus 1:2Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent. For He is not a man, that He should repent.”
30#Jn 5:44; 12:43Then he said, “I have sinned, yet please honor me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn back with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
32Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag the king of the Amalekites.”
And Agag came to him reluctantly. But Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33#Jdg 1:7; Ge 9:6Samuel said,
“As your sword has made women childless,
so will your mother be childless among women.”
And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
34#1Sa 11:4Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. 35#1Sa 15:11; 16:1Now Samuel did not see Saul up to the day of his death. But Samuel mourned for Saul and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
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