Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 28 Mar 2021
It is a dangerous thing to overestimate yourself and pick a disagreement with someone who is stronger than you. Our new U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan met recently with their Chinese counterparts in Alaska. Blinken and Sullivan apparently “intended to read the Chinese the riot act about the way the Biden Administration expects them to behave in this world… Blinken used phrases such as ‘deeply concerned’ over Chinese actions regarding Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other contested areas, and especially its cyber attacks against the United States... Yang, the Chinese diplomat, speaking through an interpreter, replied, ‘the United States does not have the qualifications to address China from a position of strength.’ ... You don’t have the qualifications any more... means, ‘I have called your bluff, Mr. Blinken, and unless you want to talk as equals, this meeting is over.’”1
A similar thing happened in the life of King Saul in the Bible… Saul overestimated himself and thought he could treat God as an equal, and the consequences were disastrous.
The Story starts with a bit of back-story from before Israel entered the Promised Land:
The Amalekites were the second army to oppose the Israelites after the Exodus – the first being Pharaoh's army.
The Amalekites were the ones (Ex. 17) whom Israel was able to conquer as long as Moses' arms were held up.
The Amalekites also, according to Deut. 25:17-18, conducted shameless attacks on the weak and sick Hebrews at the back of the line as they escaped from Egypt.
So God had it out for Amalek. He promised in Exodus 17:14-16 that Israel's initial victory over the Amalekites would not be the last of it; there would come a time when there would be more war and Amalek would be totally wiped out.
This is a fulfillment of that prophecy five generations (100 - 300 years?) later.2
“God often bears long with those that are marked for ruin. Though He bear long, He will not bear always.” ~Matthew Henry
Now, also living in the same area (Judg. 6:3) was a Bedouin people group descended from Cain, which specialized in metalworking, called the Kenites.
I don't think that the Bible records the kindness that the Kenites did to Israel which prompted Saul to spare them, except for a hint in Numbers 10:29-31 that Moses' father-in-law, Hobab (a.k.a. Jethro, who, according to Judges 1:16 & 4:11, was a Kenite), was a help to Moses in the practical details of living in the wilderness while Israel was wandering out there, because he was from the area.3
The Kenites were spared in this story, but they were wiped out later under Hezekiah4 in fulfillment of Baalam's prophecy5, but that’s another story.
Now, with that background, let’s READ THE STORY:
Samuel also said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy6 all that they have, and do not spare them. [The oldest manuscripts of this story also add that they weren’t even to allow themselves to covet - or think up work-arounds for keeping - any of the stuff they found.] But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.' " So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim7, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. [The surprisingly small number of soldiers from the largest tribe is not explained, but, being a border tribe to the Philistines, they may have had to deploy more of their forces to their western border with little to spare for this southern campaign.] And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley8 [This was probably the Wadi al-’Arishel, which flows into the Mediterranean, about 50 miles south of Gaza. (Tsumura)]. Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, get 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 Amalekites9. And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. [Shur means “wall,” and there was a defensive wall in ancient times along the NE border of Egypt.10] He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings [or second-borns], the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night. So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal." [Now, this passage doesn’t really explain the significance of what Saul did on the way back home in that Judean town of Carmel. The Hebrew is literally “he set up a hand,” which has been interpreted a number of different ways, from merely taking a rest stop (Willett) to building an altar (Jewish tradition) to building an Arc de Triomphe monument (Vulgate, Henry11, Goldman, NASB, NIV, NICOT).] Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD." [The oldest manuscripts of this story say that Saul was in the middle of offering an animal sacrifice when Samuel showed up.] But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak on." So Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?" And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal." [Saul may have been thinking, “How else can all these soldiers be paid for taking the time to do this service for their country? It’s the least I can do to let them go home with an extra sheep!”] So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 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 also has rejected you from being king."
What is the shape of this story, and what is its point?
God gave Saul a clear command in v.3 “Go and make a strike against the Amalekites, and devote to destruction all that belongs to them...” (NAW)
That word for “utterly/ completely/totally destroy” Kherem means just that.
Leviticus 27:29 “Any devoted one from among mankind who has been devoted [to destruction] may not be ransomed; he must surely be put to death.”
That word Kherem is repeated 7 more times throughout the story for emphasis to show that Saul knew that was the command and that by not destroying everything he did not obey that command from God.
Verse 1 anticipates this issue, for Samuel says to Saul at the very beginning of the story, “Shema’/give heed now to the…. message from Yahweh.” The story of Saul’s heedlessness to the word of the LORD unfolds through the story, and verses 19-22 (at the end of the story) harp four times on the fact that Saul did not “Shema’/listen/give heed/obey.”
God’s authority even over a King like Saul is emphasized in v.2 when He calls Himself the “LORD of Hosts,” and God’s authoritative “devar/word/instruction” which “commands” even the King12 is emphasized by the chiasm of being in the first and last verse of the story as well as twice in the center of the story. God’s word is more important than any other message, and giving heed to God’s word is more important than anything else we can do!
As is often the case in Biblical storytelling, the moral of the story is stated at the end of the story. In this case, the words of Samuel sum up the lesson: Then Samuel said, “Is there pleasure for Yahweh in whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices, like there is [in] your giving heed to the voice of Yahweh? Look, to give heed is better than sacrifice; to be attentive [is better] than the fat of rams! For the sin of witchcraft is rebellion, and iniquity and idols is pressure-to-compromise. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, {Yahweh} has also rejected you from being king. (NAW)
God is a person; He is not a force that can be manipulated to get what you want. He must be related-to as the person He is, so if He says something, it must be taken as a genuine expression of Himself as a person, not as a cosmic idea that can be edited any way we want.
Furthermore, God is authoritative. When we relate to Him, we do not come as equals, we stand before Him as inferiors, created by Him, under His authority, and subject to His judgment.
To negotiate with God on our terms and to imagine that we can change His decrees and please ourselves at His expense is utterly arrogant and extremely offensive to the Master of the universe.
(Now, the scriptures do show us instances of humans bargaining with God successfully, such as Abraham haggling with God over how many righteous men it would take to spare Sodom, and Moses talking God out of destroying the nation of Israel in the desert, but in every case, the negotiations that were successful were all made based upon logical implications of God’s character, not based upon human demands.)
To understand more-fully what Samuel is saying in the proverb that follows in v.23, it is instructive to note the key words he uses which are defined throughout the Scriptures.
The term meriy, which is translated “rebellion,” only occurs twice before this point in the Bible, and both times referring to the rejection of Moses and Aaron’s leadership by the nation of Israel, in favor of popular leaders like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and their 250 replacement congressmen (Num. 17:25; Deut. 31:27).
They attempted a coup on Moses’ civil government (which had been instituted by God), and they attempted a religious revolution in the tabernacle (by offering incense that God had only authorized Aaron’s sons to offer).
That is rebellion, and that is what God is accusing Saul of.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram’s rebellion looked like representative government, and it looked like the worship of God, but it was grounded in their own opinions of what should be done rather than in following God’s instructions exclusively about how the country should be run and how tabernacle worship should be conducted.
This “rebellion” is equated in the 1st line of v.23 with “the sin of witchcraft/divination/qesem”
The Moabites and Midianites hired Balaam to pronounce a curse on Israel, and this called qesem in Num. 22 & 23,
And when Philistines in 1 Samuel 6 consulted their shamans over what to do about the plague God had struck them with, that is also called qesem.
But God’s people were not to even dabble in the dark arts. In Deuteronomy 18:9-15, God said, "When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you. The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear...” (NKJV)
Heed the prophets of God, don’t look anywhere else for wisdom and guidance! That heedfulness is exactly what Saul was lacking because He was not exclusively committed to Yahweh. He always kept his options open.
Moving on to the second line of the proverb in v.23:
Patzar is the key word here. It is translated “stubbornness,” “insubordination,” “arrogance.”
This word is used only half a dozen other times in the Hebrew OT13, and every time it speaks of putting social pressure on someone to force them to make a compromise.
It is an assertion of your own will over the will of someone else – which is bad enough with your peers, but when it comes to stubbornly trying to force God to bend to your will, that is not going to fly at all!
To appropriate Mr. Yang’s words, “You do not have the qualifications to address [Him] from a position of strength.”
This arrogant, insubordinate push-back is equated in the second line of verse 23 with avon-u-teraphim (in Hebrew), translated “iniquity/evil and idolatry” in most English versions.
Avon, the word for “iniquity,” is used only twice before this time in the Old Testament, both times to refer to a fault which makes one personally offensive to God:
In Numbers 23:21, God says that because He doesn’t see “iniquity” in Israel, He is with them and won’t allow curses to fall upon them.
And in Deuteronomy 26:14, God says that re-appropriating for your own personal use, tithe money that you had been saving up for temple donations is “iniquity” which would create a barrier between you and God, such that He would not bless you.
Do you see how personally God is offended by our sin?
We understand from the few other passages which mention terraphim that they were idols people kept in their homes.
In Gen. 31, Rachel stole some from her father Laban and sat upon them to hide them,
and in Judges 17-18, Micah made some out of silver and kept them in his house until they were stolen.
Later, in 1 Samuel 19, Saul’s daughter Michael put one in David’s bed and put goat hair on top to make it look like he was sleeping there, so it must have been like a statue. (This, by the way, was while they were living in Saul’s house. Where do you suppose Michael got her household idols, if not from Saul, who himself was dabbling in spiritism and idolatry.)
Recent scholarship suggests that these statues were made to look like family ancestors14.
The prophetic books reveal how these terraphim were used:
In Ezekiel 21, the King of Babylon asked questions and supposedly got some kind of answers from them to figure out whether to turn right or left when there was a fork in the road,
and in Zachariah 10, it also mentions the terraphim “speaking iniquitous things” when consulted for supernatural guidance. Apparently, evil spirits would actually whisper things to people through these idols.
Now, we can put the whole proverb together and see that doing your own thing is just as bad as doing what evil spirits tell you to do!
“[K]nowing the will of God [but] wilfully resist[ing] it... proceedeth from the same cause, namely, infidelitie, which the other sins of witchcraft and Idolatrie doe: he which feareth not to breake Gods commandements, doth in a manner not acknowledge the Lord to be God... and he maketh himself wiser then God...” ~Andrew Willett, 1607 AD
God is the Lord of Hosts whose word is more important than any other message. Giving heed to God and His word is more important than anything else we can do!
Verse 22 says that heedfully obeying His word gives Him pleasure/delight. The Hebrew word is חֵפֶץ.
“Obedience was the law of innocency, but sacrifice supposed sin come into the world, and is but a feeble attempt to take that away which obedience would have prevented.” ~Matthew Henry
Obedience is a result of God having your heart, and that’s what He delights in.
He specifically said at the beginning of the book of Isaiah (1:11) that He does “not delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats... [and then at the end of the book of Isaiah he says.] But to this one will I look: to the lowly and stricken of spirit, who trembles over my word. One who sacrificially-slaughters the ox is a man-striker; one who sacrifices the lamb is one who breaks the neck of a dog, one who offers up a grain offering – pig-blood; one who makes a memorial offering of frankincense is one who blesses iniquity. As surely as these have chosen in their ways and delighted in their abominations, so also I myself will chose among their caprices, and what they dread I will bring to them, because I called and there was none answering; I spoke but they did not hear, and they did the evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight." (Isaiah 66:2-4, NAW)
“[I]n sacrifices, a man offers only the strange flesh of irrational animals, whereas in obedience he offers his own will, which is rational or spiritual worship (Rom. 12:8).” ~K&D, quoting the Berleb. Bible
Most of the times in the Bible when it says the Lord “delights” in something, it is a person15:
Numbers 14:8 "Since Yahweh delights in us, He will then bring us into this land...”
1 Kings 10:9 "May Yahweh your God be blessed, who delighted in you…”
2 Chronicles 9:8 "Blessed be Yahweh your God, who delighted in you...”
Ps. 22:8 "... Yahweh has delighted in the one who entrusts himself to Him”
Isaiah 62:4 .”..Yahweh has delighted in you…”
Malachi 2:17 “...He delights in them..."
Malachi 1:10 "I have no delight in you [hypocrites]," Says Yahweh…” (NAW)
Prov. 15:8 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But the prayer of the upright is His delight [רצונ – synonym].” (NKJV)
Now, if God is the main character in 1 Samuel 15, then we have two secondary characters, both of whom were stewards of a message from the Lord:
There was Saul, who valued his opinion above God’s and therefore failed to obey God in his mission.
Despite God’s command to kill all the Amalekites, Saul spared their King and took him captive. (Bible commentaries are full of opinions as to why Saul spared Agag, but the Scriptures do not actually tell us why he did it. The reason doesn’t really matter because it was not a valid reason.) What’s worse, whatever Saul did with Agag led Agag to believe that he would continue to live a happy life.
Furthermore, despite his war campaign, Saul did not even eliminate all the rest of the Amalekites, for later on, David raided – and was raided by – Amalekites who obviously survived Saul’s campaign (1 Sam. 27.8 & 30:1).
And despite God’s command to destroy all the cattle and possessions of the Amalekites, Saul allowed his soldiers to keep some. Saul rationalized his disobedience to God and his indulgence toward his men by imagining that offering a few of them up as sacrifices would smooth it all over with God. (This would be like you robbing my home and stealing all the hamburger out of my freezer and then having a cookout and inviting me to it, thinking that I would be all-good with it when you offered to serve me a couple of my own hamburger patties.)
Then, when God sent Samuel around to hold Saul accountable, Saul resorted to gaslighting (like he did before), acting like nothing was wrong and claiming to have obeyed God’s orders.
When Samuel called his bluff, Saul tried to shift the blame to his army.16 "They brought the sheep ... the people spared the sheep ... I listened to the voice of the people.” This refusal to take the blame was part of the reason why God called his sin “patzer/stubborn, insubordinate pushback.”
But the singular “you” in v.19 nails Saul with personal responsibility before God17 (There’s a reason I say “y’all” when it’s plural in Hebrew; it contrasts with the singular “you”) “Saul, you’re the head of the tribes of Israel... So why didn’t you, Sir, give heed to the voice of Yahweh but instead you, Sir, swooped toward the booty and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh?” (NAW)
v.29 summarizes Saul’s sin as “turning away from following after God” in order to go his own way. That is essentially idolatry, because it makes “self-will, the human I, into a god.” ~K&D
So Saul, who rejected God by acting like God’s word was not authoritative over him, was himself rejected by God.
The second character who was a steward of God’s word was the Prophet Samuel.
Samuel faithfully delivered God’s message to the king, commissioning him on a special task for God.
But when when he learned of Saul’s careless disobedience to God’s word, Samuel cried and prayed all night for Saul. Indeed, Samuel grieved over him for the rest of his life (v.35).
God takes no pleasure in the condemnation of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11), so we shouldn’t either;
We should pray our rulers – even the wicked ones, just like God tells us to in 1 Timothy 2.
Does your compassion for the lost, your grief over the sins of our leaders, and your desire to see nominal Christians revived ever reach such proportions of crying, sleeplessness, and true grieving? May God deepen our concern for His honor in these ways.
Samuel also faithfully held the King accountable to God’s word, and delivered word-for-word God’s final message to Saul.
Likewise today, God has given us His word in the form of the Bible. The question to us is, how will we steward it?
Will we mix and match it with ideas from the world and with our own opinions, like Saul did, and call it good?
Or will we honor God’s word like Samuel did, carefully keeping it and sharing it and holding others accountable to it, and letting it touch our emotions and ignite our prayers?
Will we give God pleasure by giving ourselves fully to him as a living sacrifice, or will we just go through the motions of worship while we live for ourselves?
Questions for further consideration:
What are ways we commit rebellion against God by taking ideas from ourselves or from the world instead of from God?
What are ways we commit patzar by asserting our will over God’s, shifting blame to others, and trying to meet God halfway?
V |
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
1 |
καὶ εἶπεν Σαμουηλ πρὸς Σαουλ ἐμὲ ἀπέστειλεν κύριος χρῗσαί σε εἰς βασιλέα ἐπὶ X X X Ισραηλ καὶ νῦν ἄκουε τῆς φωνῆς X κυρίου |
And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over X X X Israel: and now hear the voice of the X X Lord. |
And Samuel said to Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over his People XB Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of X the Lord: |
Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. |
Now Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one Yahweh commissioned to anoint you to be king over His people – over Israel, so give heed now to the voice of the words of Yahweh. |
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל, אֶל- שָׁאוּל, אֹתִי שָׁלַח יְהוָה לִמְשָׁחֳךָ לְמֶלֶךְ, עַל-עַמּוֹ עַל-יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְעַתָּה שְׁמַע, לְקוֹל דִּבְרֵיC יְהוָה. {ס} |
2 |
τάδε εἶπεν κύριος σαβαωθ [νῦν] ἐκδικήσωD ἃ ἐποίησεν Αμαληκ τῷ Ισραηλ ὡς ἀπήντησενE αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ ἀναβαίνοντος αὐτοῦ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου |
Thus said the Lord of hosts, [Now] will I take vengeance for what Amalec did to Israel, when he met him in the way as he came up out of Egypt. |
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have reckoned up [all] that Amalec hath done to Israel: how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt. |
Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, I |
|
כֹּה אָמַר, יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, פָּקַדְתִּי, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה עֲמָלֵק לְיִשְׂרָאֵל--אֲשֶׁר-שָׂם לוֹ בַּדֶּרֶךְ, בַּעֲלֹתוֹ מִמִּצְרָיִם. |
3 |
καὶ
νῦν πορεύου
καὶ πατάξεις
τὸν Αμαληκ καὶ
|
And
now go, and thou shalt smite
Amalec and |
Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath: X spare him not,[nor covet any thing that is his]: but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. |
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and sucklingH, ox and sheep, camel and assI. |
Go now, and make a strike against the Amalekites, and devote to destruction everything that belongs to them... |
עַתָּהJ לֵךְ וְהִכִּיתָה אֶת-עֲמָלֵק, וְהַחֲרַמְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר-לוֹ, וְלֹא תַחְמֹל, עָלָיו; וְהֵמַתָּה מֵאִישׁ עַד-אִשָּׁה, מֵעֹלֵל וְעַד-יוֹנֵק, מִשּׁוֹר וְעַד-שֶׂה, מִגָּמָל וְעַד-חֲמוֹר. {ס} |
4 |
καὶ
παρήγγειλεν
Σαουλ τῷ λαῷ
καὶ ἐπισκέπτεται
αὐτοὺς ἐν |
And
Saul summoned the people, and he numbered
them in |
So
Saul commanded the people, and numbered
them as |
And Saul gathered the people together, and numberedM them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. |
|
וַיְשַׁמַּע שָׁאוּל, אֶת-הָעָם, וַיִּפְקְדֵם בַּטְּלָאִים, מָאתַיִם אֶלֶף רַגְלִי; וַעֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים, אֶת-אִישׁ יְהוּדָה. |
5 |
καὶ
ἦλθεν Σαουλ
ἕως τῶν πόλε |
And Saul came to the citie[s] of Amalec, and laid wait in the valley. |
And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in the torrent. |
And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valleyO. |
|
וַיָּבֹא שָׁאוּל, עַד-עִיר עֲמָלֵק; וַיָּרֶבP, בַּנָּחַל. |
6 |
καὶ εἶπεν Σαουλ πρὸς τὸν Κιναῗον X ἄπελθε καὶ ἔκκλινον ἐκ μέσου τοῦ Αμαληκίτου μὴ προσθῶQ σε μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ σὺ ἐποίησας ἔλεος μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ ἐν τῷ ἀναβαίνειν αὐτοὺς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου καὶ ἐξέκλινεν ὁ Κιναῗος ἐκ μέσου Αμαληκ |
And Saul said to the Kinite, Go, and depart X out of the midst of the Amalekites, lest I put thee with them; for thou dealedst mercifully with the children of Israel when they went up out of Egypt. So the Kinite departed from the midst of Amalec. |
And Saul said to the Cinite: Go, depart and get ye down from Amalec: lest I destroy thee with him. For thou hast shewn kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the Cinite departed from the midst of Amalec. |
And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. |
|
וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל אֶל-הַקֵּינִי לְכוּ סֻּרוּ רְדוּ מִתּוֹךְ עֲמָלֵקִי, פֶּן-אֹסִפְךָR עִמּוֹ, וְאַתָּה עָשִׂיתָה חֶסֶד עִם-כָּל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, בַּעֲלוֹתָם מִמִּצְרָיִם; וַיָּסַר קֵינִי, מִתּוֹךְ עֲמָלֵק. |
V |
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
7 |
καὶ ἐπάταξεν Σαουλ τὸν Αμαληκ ἀπὸ Ευιλατ ἕως X Σουρ X ἐπὶ προσώπου Αἰγύπτου |
And Saul smote Amalec from Evilat to X Sur X fronting Egypt. |
And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which is over against Egypt. |
And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. |
|
וַיַּךְ שָׁאוּל, אֶת-עֲמָלֵק, מֵחֲוִילָה בּוֹאֲךָ שׁוּר, אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי מִצְרָיִם. |
8 |
καὶ συνέλαβεν τὸν Αγαγ βασιλέα Αμαληκ ζῶντα καὶ πάντα τὸν λαὸν [Ιεριμ] ἀπέκτεινενS ἐν στόματι ῥομφαίας |
And
he took Agag the king of Amalec alive, and he slew all the people
and |
And he took Agag the king of Amalec alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword. |
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. |
|
וַיִּתְפֹּשׂ אֶת-אֲגַג מֶלֶךְ-עֲמָלֵק, חָי; וְאֶת-כָּל-הָעָם, הֶחֱרִים לְפִי-חָרֶב. |
9 |
καὶ
περιεποιήσατο
Σαουλ καὶ πᾶς
ὁ λαὸς τὸν Αγαγ
[ζῶντα]
καὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ
τῶν ποιμνίων καὶ
τῶν βουκολίων
καὶ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων
καὶ τῶν |
And
Saul and all the people saved Agag [alive], and the best of the
flocks, and of the herds, and of the fruits,
of the |
And
Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the [flocks of]
sheep and of the herds, and the |
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlingsW, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vileX and refuseY, that they destroyed utterly. |
|
וַיַּחְמֹל שָׁאוּל וְהָעָם עַל-אֲגָג, וְעַל-מֵיטַב הַצֹּאן וְהַבָּקָר וְהַמִּשְׁנִיםZ וְעַל- הַכָּרִים וְעַל-כָּל- הַטּוֹב, וְלֹא אָבוּ, הַחֲרִימָם; וְכָל- הַמְּלָאכָה נְמִבְזָה וְנָמֵס, אֹתָהּ הֶחֱרִימוּ. {פ} |
10 |
καὶ ἐγενήθη ῥῆμα κυρίου πρὸς Σαμουηλ λέγων |
And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, |
And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: |
Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, |
|
וַיְהִי, דְּבַר-יְהוָה, אֶל-שְׁמוּאֵל, לֵאמֹר. |
11 |
παρακέκλημαι ὅτι ἐβασίλευσα τὸν Σαουλ εἰς βασιλέα ὅτι ἀπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ ὄπισθέν μου καὶ τοὺς λόγους μου οὐκ ἐτήρησεν καὶ ἠθύμησενAA Σαμουηλ καὶ ἐβόησεν πρὸς κύριον ὅλην τὴν νύκτα |
I have repented that I have made Saul to be king: for he has turned back from following me, and has not kept my wordX. And Samuel was grieved, and cried to the Lord all night. |
It repenteth me that I have made Saul king: for he hath X forsaken me, and hath not executed my commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night. |
It repentethAB me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performedAC my commandmentsAD. And it grievedAE Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. |
|
נִחַמְתִּיAF, כִּי-הִמְלַכְתִּי אֶת-שָׁאוּל לְמֶלֶךְ--כִּי-שָׁב מֵאַחֲרַי, וְאֶת-דְּבָרַי לֹא הֵקִים; וַיִּחַר, לִשְׁמוּאֵל, וַיִּזְעַק אֶל-יְהוָה, כָּל-הַלָּיְלָה. |
12 |
καὶ
ὤρθρισεν Σαμουηλ
καὶ ἐπορεύθη
εἰς ἀπάντησιν
|
And
Samuel rose early and went to meet |
And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel X, that Saul was come to Carmel, and X had erected for himself a triumphant arch, and returning had passed on, and gone down to Galgal. [And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord out of the choicest of the spoils which he had brought from Amalec.] |
And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, X it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a placeAG, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. |
|
וַיַּשְׁכֵּם שְׁמוּאֵל לִקְרַאת שָׁאוּל, בַּבֹּקֶר; וַיֻּגַּד לִשְׁמוּאֵל לֵאמֹר, בָּא-שָׁאוּל הַכַּרְמֶלָה וְהִנֵּה מַצִּיב לוֹ יָד, AHוַיִּסֹּב וַיַּעֲבֹר, וַיֵּרֶד הַגִּלְגָּל. |
13 |
καὶ παρεγένετο Σαμουηλ πρὸς Σαουλ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Σαουλ εὐλογητὸς σὺ τῷ κυρίῳ ἔστησα [πάντα] ὅσα ἐλάλησεν κύριος |
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said to him, Blessed art thou of the Lord: I have performed [all] that the Lord said. |
And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord. |
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. |
|
וַיָּבֹא שְׁמוּאֵל, אֶל- שָׁאוּל; וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ שָׁאוּל, בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה לַיהוָה--הֲקִימֹתִי, אֶת-דְּבַר יְהוָה. |
V |
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
14 |
καὶ εἶπεν Σαμουηλ καὶ τίς ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ ποιμνίου τούτου ἐν τοῗς ὠσίν μου καὶ φωνὴ τῶν βοῶν ὧν ἐγὼ ἀκούω |
And Samuel said, What then is the bleating of this flock in my ears, and the sound of the oxen which I hear? |
And Samuel said: What [meaneth] then this bleating of the flock[s], [which soundeth] in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear? |
And Samuel said, What [meaneth] then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? |
|
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל, וּמֶה קוֹל-הַצֹּאן הַזֶּה בְּאָזְנָי, וְקוֹל הַבָּקָר, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי שֹׁמֵעַ. |
15 |
καὶ
εἶπεν Σαουλ
ἐξ Αμαληκ ἤνεγκαX
αὐτά ἃ περιεποιήσατο
ὁ λαός τὰ κράτιστα
τοῦ ποιμνίου
καὶ τῶν βοῶν
ὅπως τυθῇ τῷ
κυρίῳ θεῷ σου
καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ
ἐξωλέθρευσ |
And
Saul said, |
And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herd[s] that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain. |
And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. |
|
וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל מֵעֲמָלֵקִי הֱבִיאוּם, אֲשֶׁר חָמַל הָעָם עַל-מֵיטַב הַצֹּאן וְהַבָּקָר, לְמַעַן זְבֹחַ, לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ; וְאֶת-הַיּוֹתֵר, הֶחֱרַמְנוּ. {פ} |
16 |
καὶ εἶπεν Σαμουηλ πρὸς Σαουλ ἄνεςAI καὶ ἀπαγγελῶ σοι ἃ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρός με τὴν νύκτα καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ λάλησον |
And Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night: and he said to him, Say on. |
And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said to him: Speak. |
Then Samuel said unto Saul, StayAJ, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. |
|
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל, אֶל- שָׁאוּל, הֶרֶף וְאַגִּידָה לְּךָ, אֵת אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֵלַי הַלָּיְלָה; ויאמרוAK לוֹ, דַּבֵּר.ס |
17 |
καὶ εἶπεν Σαμουηλ [πρὸς Σαουλ] οὐχὶ μικρὸς σὺ εἶ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ἡγούμενος X σκήπτρου φυλῆς Ισραηλ καὶ ἔχρισέν σε κύριος εἰς βασιλέα ἐπὶ Ισραηλ |
And
Samuel said [to
Saul],
Art thou not little in |
And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thy own eyes, wast thou [not made] the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel. |
And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou [not made] the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? |
|
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל--הֲלוֹא אִם-קָטֹןAL אַתָּה בְּעֵינֶיךָ, רֹאשׁ שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָתָּה; וַיִּמְשָׁחֲךָ יְהוָה לְמֶלֶךְ, עַל-יִשְׂרָאֵל. |
18 |
καὶ ἀπέστειλέν σε κύριος ἐν ὁδῷ καὶ εἶπέν σοι πορεύθητι καὶ ἐξολέθρευσον τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας [εἰς ἐμέ] τὸν Αμαληκ καὶ πολεμήσεις αὐτούς ἕως συντελέσῃς αὐτούς |
And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said to thee, Go, and utterly destroy: thou shalt slay the sinners [against me], even the Amalekites; and thou shalt war against them until thou have consumed them. |
And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: Go, and kill the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them. |
And the Lord sent thee on a journeyAM, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumedAN. |
|
וַיִּשְׁלָחֲךָ יְהוָה, בְּדָרֶךְ; וַיֹּאמֶר, לֵךְ וְהַחֲרַמְתָּה אֶת-הַחַטָּאִים אֶת-עֲמָלֵק, וְנִלְחַמְתָּ בוֹ, עַד כַּלּוֹתָםAO אֹתָם. |
19 |
καὶ ἵνα τί οὐκ ἤκουσας τῆς φωνῆς κυρίου ἀλλ᾽ ὥρμησας [τοῦ θέσθαι] ἐπὶ τὰ σκῦλα καὶ ἐποίησας τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιον κυρίου |
And why didst not thou hearken to the voice of the Lord, but didst haste [to fasten upon] the spoil[s], and didst that which was evil in the sight of the Lord? |
Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord: but hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord. |
Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst flyAP upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? |
Then why didn’t you, Sir, give heed to the voice of Yahweh but instead you swooped toward the booty and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh?” |
וְלָמָּה לֹא-שָׁמַעְתָּ, בְּקוֹל יְהוָה; וַתַּעַט, אֶל-הַשָּׁלָל, וַתַּעַשׂ הָרַע, בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה. {ס} |
20 |
καὶ
εἶπεν Σαουλ
πρὸς Σαμουηλ
διὰ τὸ ἀκοῦσαί
με τῆς φωνῆς
|
And
Saul said to Samuel, Because I listened
to the voice of |
And Saul said to Samuel: Yea I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain. |
And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. |
|
וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל אֶל- שְׁמוּאֵל, אֲשֶׁרAQ שָׁמַעְתִּי בְּקוֹל יְהוָה, וָאֵלֵךְ, בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר- שְׁלָחַנִי יְהוָה; וָאָבִיא, אֶת-אֲגַג מֶלֶךְ עֲמָלֵק, וְאֶת-עֲמָלֵק, הֶחֱרַמְתִּי. |
V |
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
21 |
καὶ
ἔλαβεν ὁ λαὸς
τῶν σκύλ |
But the people took of the spoils the best flocks and herds out of that which was destroyed, to sacrifice before the Lord Xour God in Galgal. |
But
the people took of the spoil[s] sheep and oxen, as the
firstfruits of those things that were
slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord
|
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chiefAS of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. |
|
וַיִּקַּח הָעָם מֵהַשָּׁלָל צֹאן וּבָקָר, רֵאשִׁית הַחֵרֶם, לִזְבֹּחַ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָAT, בַּגִּלְגָּל.{ס} |
22 |
καὶ εἶπεν Σαμουηλ εἰ θελητὸν τῷ κυρίῳ ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίαι ὡς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι φωνῆς κυρίου ἰδοὺ ἀκοὴ ὑπὲρ θυσίαν ἀγαθὴ [καὶ] ἡ ἐπακρόασις ὑπὲρ στέαρ κριῶν |
And
Samuel said, Does the Lord take pleasure in whole-burnt-offerings
and sacrifices, as in hearing
the |
And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, [and not rather] that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifice[s]: and to hearken rather than [to offer] the fat of rams. |
And Samuel said, Hath the Lord [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearkenAU than the fat of rams. |
Then Samuel said, “Is there pleasure for Yahweh in whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices, like there is [in] your giving heed to the voice of Yahweh? Look, to give heed is better than sacrifice; to be attentive [is better] than the fat of rams! |
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל, הַחֵפֶץ לַיהוָה בְּעֹלוֹת וּזְבָחִים, כִּשְׁמֹעַ, בְּקוֹל יְהוָה: הִנֵּה שְׁמֹעַ מִזֶּבַח טוֹב, לְהַקְשִׁיב מֵחֵלֶב אֵילִים. |
23 |
ὅτι ἁμαρτία οἰώνισμάAV ἐστιν ὀδύνηνAW καὶ πόνουςAX X θεραφινAY ἐπάγουσινAZ ὅτι ἐξουδένωσας τὸ ῥῆμα κυρίου καὶ ἐξουδενώσει σε [κύριος] μὴ εἶναι βασιλέα [ἐπὶ Ισραηλ] |
For sin is as divination; idols X bring on pain and grief. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the [Lord] also shall reject thee from being king [over Israel]. |
Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the [Lord] hath also rejected thee from being king. |
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornnessBA is as iniquityBB and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. |
For the sin of witchcraft is rebellion, and iniquity and idols is pressure to compromise. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, {Yahweh} has also rejected you from being king. |
כִּי חַטַּאת-קֶסֶםBC מֶרִי, וְאָוֶן וּתְרָפִים הַפְצַרBD: יַעַן, מָאַסְתָּ אֶת-דְּבַר יְהוָה, וַיִּמְאָסְךָBE, מִמֶּלֶךְ. {ס} |
1 Source: https://www.castlereport.us/geopolitical-disaster/
2This is in fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant: "...those who bless you, I will bless, and those who curse you, I will curse..." The Amalekites had been a curse to Israel, so they got wiped out. The Kenites had been a blessing to Israel, so they were protected.
3Hobab was also called a Midianite, but apparently, Kenites included Midianites, as well as Jews in Caleb's line (1 Chr. 2:55), and even the merchants who brought Joseph from his brothers (Gen. 37:28).
4 Num. 31:2, 25:17, Judg. 6-7, 1 Chron. 4:43.
5Numbers 24:20-22 "Amalek was first among the nations, But shall be last until he perishes… Firm is [the Kennites] dwelling place, And your nest is set in the rock; Nevertheless Kain shall be burned. How long until Asshur carries you away captive?" (NKJV)!
6This divine command is not a justification for engaging in retaliatory war today. Tsumura, in the NICOT commentary, pointed relevantly to the New Testament commands for no-holds-barred spiritual warfare, however, in Ephesians 6:12.
7Much has been made by commentators of the fact that “Telaim” means “lamb,” with various conjectures about lambs in the numbering of the troops, but I think it was just the name of a town. In an area known for sheep-herding it is not surprising that a town would have a name like that.
8Willett suggested (based on Num. 24:21) that Kennites lived in the mountains (סלע) and Amalekites down in the valley. The Kennites were also nomadic tent-dwellers, so it was not a great upset for them to move out of the battle zone.
9“It is dangerous being found in the company of God’s enemies… The Jews have a saying, ‘Woe to the wicked man, and woe to his neighbour.’” ~Matthew Henry
10So Goldman in the Soncino Commentary. Keil & Delitzsch’s commentary asserted that it was the “Arabian… desert of Jifar… which borders upon Egypt... (Gen. 16:7). Havilah, the country of the Chaulotoeans, on the border of Arabia Petraea towards Yemen… (Gen. 10:29).”
11“Saul… ‘set up this place for himself’ … seeking his own honour more than the honour of God… and also… marched in great state to Gilgal, for this seems to be intimated in the manner of expression: ‘He has gone about and passed on and gone down,’ with great deal of pomp and parade.” ~Matthew Henry
12“Men’s preferment, instead of releasing them from their obedience to God, obliges them so much the more to it… God’s favours to us lay strong obligations upon us to be obedient to Him.” ~Matthew Henry, 1714 AD
13Gen. 19:3, 9; 33:11; Jdg. 19:7; 2 Ki. 2:17; 5:16
14K.
van der Toorn, “The Nature of the Biblical Teraphim in the
Light of the Cuneiform Evidence” (1990)
T. J. Lewis, “The
Ancestral Estate… in 2 Samuel 14:16” (1991).
15This Hebrew root is translated into Greek with the thelw root, but this is not used of God in the NT.
16McCarter commented insightfully, “Democracy is no more acceptable a replacement for prophetic theocracy than is monarchy!”
17I’m indebted to Tsumura for pointing this out in his NICOT commentary.
AMy
original chart includes the NASB and NIV, but their copyright
restrictions have forced me to remove them from the
publicly-available edition of this chart. I have included the ESV in
footnotes when it employs a word not already used by the KJV, NASB,
or NIV. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation adds words not
in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use
of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square
brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different
from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs
too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far
from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scroll containing any part of 1 Samuel 15 is 4Q51 Samuela,
which contains fragments of vs. 20-32
(highlighted in purple), and which has been dated between 50-25 B.C.
Where the DSS supports the LXX with omissions or text not in the MT,
I have highlighted with yellow
the LXX and its translation into English; where I have accepted that
into my NAW translation, I have marked it with {pointed brackets}.
BThere are some Hebrew manuscripts which also omit the second “over”
CThere are Hebrew manuscripts which read singular “word”
DHebrew pqd can denote personal reckoning (LXX cf. “NASB & NIV “punish”), or the accountability of overseeing (Aquila = epeskeyamhn cf. ESV = “noted”). Seeing as the same verb is used in v.4 to describe what Saul did to the people of Israel, it's probably more consistent to go with the latter interpretation.
EThe Hebrew sim is translated more literally by Symmachus (Σ.) epeqeto (“put/set upon”) Theodotian (Q.) also sought to improve over the LXX “greeted” with a word showing clear animosity epataxen (“struck”), which goes beyond the MT.
FNASB = “obstructed,” NIV = “waylaid,” ESV = “opposed”
GSyriac and Targum support the extra “and” not in the MT. It doesn't make a difference in meaning, though.
HNASB, NIV, and ESV = “child & infant”
INASB, NIV, ESV = “donkey”
JLXX, Buxtorf Targum, and Vulgate, as well as several Hebrew manuscripts, start this verse with “and.”
KMost of the later Greek translations read “two” instead of “four,” matching the MT, but the Alexandrinus reads “ten.” Josephus supports the LXX with his 40K from Israel and 30K from Judah.
LMost other Greek translations read pezwn (footmen) like the MT.
MNASB = “counted,” NIV = “mustered”
NAquila = φαραγγι (“ravine”)
ONASB = “wadi,” NIV = “ravine”
PMcCarter explained that if it were a misspelled Hiphal, it could be translated “prepared an ambush” (as the DR, NASB, and NIV rendered it) but Tsumura dismissed that possibility.
QAq. sussurw (“drag away together”)
RThere seems to be some controversy over whether the root of this word is שסף (“gather”) or סףה (“take away”), but the meanings are not different enough to change the gist of the message.
S“Hierim” is a transliteration of the Hebrew word “devote to destruction.” Later Greek versions dropped the transliteration and used a Greek word like apekteinen or exwloqreusen (S. cf. LXX v.9) meaning what the Hebrew word means.
TThe Hebrew word כּרם means vineyard, but the plural would be spelled כרמים (differently than the MT כרים).
Ucf. Symmachus (S.) euteleV (“good-for-nothing”?) and Theotodion (Q.) exoudenwmenon (“abominable”)
Vcf. Aquila (Aq.) tethgmenon (“melted down?”)
WNASB = “more valuable animals,” NIV & ESV = “fat[tened] calves”
XNASB/NIV/ESV = “despicable/despised”
YNASB/NIV = “weak,” ESV = “worthless”
ZThe root of this word is labeled by the etymologists as שנ “two/double,” but a transposition of the first two letters (which sometimes occurs for euphonic reasons) yields שמן “fat/oil” – which most English versions (+NICOT) follow. The LXX “food” might be in line with that. Willet, Kimchi, K&D, AJV, and Goldman, however, stuck with “second-born animals”.
AAGreek translations run the same gamut of meaning as English versions: S. eluphqh (“pained”) Q. orgilon (“angered”)
ABNASB/NIV/ESV = “I regret”
ACNASB/NIV = “carried out” I suggest “enforced” as a closer translation of the Hiphil stem of qum. Same with v.13.
ADLit. “words” cf. NIV “instructions” Same in v.13
AE NASB = “furious,” NIV = “angry”
AFOn the theology of God “repenting/relenting/changing mind” see http://ctrchurch-mhk.org/sermondetail/does-god-change-his-mind-jonah-310/
AG Lit. “a hand,” NASB, NIV = “monument”
AHCairo Geniza manuscripts dating about a century before the MT have slightly different vowel pointing and read Hiphil instead of Qal, but this doesn’t really change the meaning.
AIcf. A. S. afeV. Q. eason (both of which mean “let it go”)
AJNASB = “Stop,” NIV = “Enough”
AKThe original Masoretic text reads “they said” but Masorite scribes corrected it in the Keri to וַיֹּאמֶר “and he said,” and the translations generally follow that. However, there is no reason why a king would not have had a court and spokesmen to answer for him, so it doesn’t change the story.
ALThis is reminiscent of Saul’s words about himself in 9:21
AMNASB, NIV, ESV = “mission” Lit. “way/road” Same in v.20, except KJV renders it “way” there.
ANNASB = “eliminated,” NIV = “wiped out”
AOThe 3rd person masculine plural suffix on this infinitive is interpreted by the LXX, Syriac, Targums, and NIV as a second plural subject for the verb. It might, on the other hand, be interpreted as the object, in which case the last word would make the object emphatic “them themselves.”
APNASB = “loudly rushed,” NIV/ESV = “pounce”
AQ“אשר serving, like כי, to introduce the reply: here it is used in the sense of asseveration, utique, yea.” ~K&D
ARcf. synonymous phrasing in Aq. and others A. kefalaion (tou anaqematoV). Oi loipoi aparchn tou anaqematoV.
ASNASB = “choicest,” NIV/ESV = “best”
ATThe variety of variants makes tcalls this pronoun into question. It’s obliterated in the DSS, but some Greek manuscripts read “Iof Israel” most read “our” and the Vulgate reasds “their”
AUNASB = “pay attention,” NIV = “heed,” ESV = “listen”
AVAq & Sym. used synonym for consulting mediums = manteiaV
AWAq. = parapikrasmoV (“bitter revolt”), S. = proserizein (“present turmoil”)
AXLXX = “toil,” Aq. = anwfeleV (“breach of obligation”), Sym. = anomia (“lawlessness”)
AYLXX “Therafin” is a transliteration of the Hebrew word for “idols.” Aq. translated it morfwmatwn (“shapes”) and S. eidwlwn (“idols”)
AZA. ekbibasmoV (“going astray?”), S. apeiqein (“unbelief”)
BA NASB = “insubordination,” NIV = “arrogance,” ESV = “presumption”
BB NASB = “false [religion],” NIV = “evil”
BCCairo Geniza mss pointed these vowels as a participle rather than as a noun, but it doesn’t make a difference in meaning.
BDThis word is used only half a dozen other times in the Hebrew OT (Gen. 19:3, 9; 33:11; Jdg. 19:7; 2 Ki. 2:17; 5:16), and every time it speaks of putting social pressure on someone to force them to make a compromise.
BESeveral Hebrew manuscripts and even Targums insert the word “LORD” here, like the LXX, but even without the insertion, it is clear that the subject is the LORD, so it makes no difference in meaning.