Atlas Biblica

    1 Samuel · 35 verses

    1 Samuel 15

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    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    Agag approaches cheerfully, thinking the bitterness of death has passed, and Samuel immediately hacks him to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.

    The spared bestvv. 1–9

    Samuel gives Saul a command with no room for a souvenir cabinet: attack Amalek and devote everything to destruction. Saul gathers 210,000 men at Telaim, warns the Kenites away, and strikes from Havilah to Shur. Yet the command acquires exceptions almost at once. Agag is kept alive, and so are the best sheep, cattle, calves, lambs, and everything else worth having; only the despised and worthless are destroyed.

    The bleating objectionvv. 10–31

    The LORD regrets making Saul king, while Samuel spends the night crying out. By morning Saul has gone to Carmel, erected a monument for himself, and travelled down to Gilgal. There he greets Samuel with the confidence of a man whose report has not yet met the livestock. “I have carried out the LORD’s instructions,” says Saul; the sheep and cattle provide a rather audible footnote. Saul says the troops saved the best for sacrifice, but Samuel answers that obedience outranks sacrifice. Saul then admits that he feared the people and obeyed their voice. The kingdom is torn from him, symbolically enough, when he grabs Samuel’s robe and tears it. Saul still asks to be honoured before the elders, and Samuel goes back with him to worship.

    The bitterness of deathvv. 32–35

    Samuel summons Agag. Agag comes cheerfully, having decided that death’s unpleasant portion has passed. It has not. Samuel declares that the sword which made women childless will leave Agag’s mother childless, and hacks Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal. Samuel returns to Ramah; Saul goes home to Gibeah. They do not meet again, while Samuel mourns and the LORD again regrets making Saul king.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 1 Sam 15:1Then Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.

    2. 1 Sam 15:2This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them on their way up from Egypt.

    3. 1 Sam 15:3Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

    4. 1 Sam 15:4So Saul summoned the troops and numbered them at Telaim—200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.

    5. 1 Sam 15:5Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.

    6. 1 Sam 15:6And he warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, go on and get away from the Amalekites. Otherwise I will sweep you away with them.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

    7. 1 Sam 15:7Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

    8. 1 Sam 15:8He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.

    9. 1 Sam 15:9Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.

    10. 1 Sam 15:10Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,

    11. 1 Sam 15:11“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all that night.

    12. 1 Sam 15:12Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.”

    13. 1 Sam 15:13When Samuel reached him, Saul said to him, “May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

    14. 1 Sam 15:14But Samuel replied, “Then what is this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle that I hear?”

    15. 1 Sam 15:15Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”

    16. 1 Sam 15:16“Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied.

    17. 1 Sam 15:17And Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, have you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel

    18. 1 Sam 15:18and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’

    19. 1 Sam 15:19So why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you rush upon the plunder and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”

    20. 1 Sam 15:20“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the LORD gave me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and devoted the Amalekites to destruction.

    21. 1 Sam 15:21The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

    22. 1 Sam 15:22But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.

    23. 1 Sam 15:23For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”

    24. 1 Sam 15:24Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

    25. 1 Sam 15:25Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the LORD.”

    26. 1 Sam 15:26“I will not return with you,” Samuel replied. “For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and He has rejected you as king over Israel.”

    27. 1 Sam 15:27As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.

    28. 1 Sam 15:28So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

    29. 1 Sam 15:29Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

    30. 1 Sam 15:30“I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”

    31. 1 Sam 15:31So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

    32. 1 Sam 15:32Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.” Agag came to him cheerfully, for he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

    33. 1 Sam 15:33But Samuel declared: “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.

    34. 1 Sam 15:34Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.

    35. 1 Sam 15:35And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 308 passages were voted onto 32 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 22Hosea 6:6For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
    • 22Psalms 51:16–17For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.
    • 22Proverbs 21:3To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.
    • 22Amos 5:21–24“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
    • 22Mark 12:33and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
    • 22Matthew 9:13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
    • 22Micah 6:6–8With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
    • 22Jeremiah 7:22–23For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
    • 22Ecclesiastes 5:1Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
    • 22Isaiah 1:11–17“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
    • 22Matthew 12:7If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
    • 22Hebrews 10:4–10because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
    • 29Numbers 23:19God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
    • 29Ezekiel 24:14I, the LORD, have spoken; the time is coming, and I will act. I will not refrain or show pity, nor will I relent. I will judge you according to your ways and deeds,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
    • 2Deuteronomy 25:17–19Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt,
    • 29Titus 1:2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

    Onward

    Keep reading

    Next chapter1 Samuel 1623 verses.Named hereAmalekEverything the graph connects to this name.Book1 SamuelAll 31 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.