Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Key: khaki:verbs, green:YHWH.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
K ויאמרו
BrLXXΚαὶ εἶπε Σαμουὴλ πρὸς Σαοὺλ, ἄνες, καὶ ἀπαγγελῶ σοι ἃ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς μὲ τὴν νύκτα· καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, λάλησον. (Kai eipe Samouaʸl pros Saʼoul, anes, kai apangelō soi ha elalaʸse Kurios pros me taʸn nukta; kai eipen autōi, lalaʸson. )
BrTrAnd 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.
ULTAnd Samuel said to Saul, “Stop, and let me tell you what Yahweh spoke to me at night.” And he said to him, “Speak!”
USTSamuel said to Saul, “Stop talking! Allow me to tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.” ¶ Saul replied, “Tell me what he said.”
BSB § “Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” § “Tell me,” Saul replied.
OEBThen Samuel said to ‘Saul, Stop! and let me tell you what the Lord has said to me this night.’ He said to him, ‘Speak.’
WEBBEThen Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” ¶ He said to him, “Say on.”
JPSThen Samuel said unto Saul: 'Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night.' And he said unto him: 'Say on.'
ASVThen Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what Jehovah hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
DRAAnd 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.
YLTAnd Samuel saith unto Saul, 'Desist, and I declare to thee that which Jehovah hath spoken unto me to-night;' and he saith to him, 'Speak.'
DrbyAnd Samuel said to Saul, Stay, that I may tell thee what Jehovah has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on.
RVThen Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
WbstrThen Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on.
KJB-1769Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. (Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee/you what the LORD hath/has said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. )
KJB-1611Then Samuel sayd vnto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to mee this night. And he said vnto him, Say on. (Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)
BshpsSamuel said to Saul: Let me tell thee what the Lorde hath saide to me this night. And he sayd vnto him: saye on. (Samuel said to Saul: Let me tell thee/you what the Lord hath/has said to me this night. And he said unto him: say on.)
GnvaAgaine Samuel saide to Saul, Let me tell thee what the Lord hath saide to me this night. And he said vnto him, Say on. (Again Samuel said to Saul, Let me tell thee/you what the Lord hath/has said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. )
CvdlNeuertheles Samuel answered Saul: Let me tell the what ye LORDE hath sayde vnto me this nighte. He sayde: Saye on. (Nevertheless Samuel answered Saul: Let me tell the what ye/you_all LORD hath/has said unto me this night. He said: Saye on.)
WyclForsothe Samuel seide to Saul, Suffre thou me, and Y schal schewe to thee what thingis the Lord spak to me in the nyyt. And he seide to Samuel, Speke thou. (Forsothe Samuel said to Saul, Suffer thou/you me, and I shall show to thee/you what things the Lord spake to me in the night. And he said to Samuel, Speak thou.)
LuthSamuel aber antwortete Saul: Laß dir sagen, was der HErr mit mir geredet hat diese Nacht. Er sprach: Sage her! (Samuel but replied Saul: Let you/to_you say, what/which the/of_the LORD with to_me geredet has this/these Nacht. He spoke: Say_to her!)
ClVgAit autem Samuel ad Saul: Sine me, et indicabo tibi quæ locutus sit Dominus ad me nocte. Dixitque ei: Loquere. (He_said however Samuel to Saul: Sine me, and indicabo to_you which spoke let_it_be Master to me nocte. And_he_said ei: Loquere. )
God instructed Saul to “completely destroy” the Amalekites, who had ambushed the Israelites after the Exodus (see Exod 17:8-16; Deut 25:17-19). The Hebrew word kharam (“completely destroy”) often means dedicating something or someone completely to the Lord, either by destroying it (1 Sam 15:3; Josh 6:17-18) or by giving it as an offering (see Lev 27:28-29; Josh 6:19).
Complete destruction was called for in cases where those to be destroyed had committed a severe offense against God, such as worshiping false gods (Deut 7:1-6; 13:12-18). In 1 Samuel 15:3, complete destruction is prescribed as God’s judgment on a nation that mistreated his chosen people. Those who curse God’s family are, in turn, cursed (Gen 12:3).
God still judges the godless and impenitent. But in the new covenant, Christians are not called to be agents of such judgment. God calls us to exercise his mercy toward those who wrong us (see Luke 9:51-56). We must completely destroy whatever within ourselves wars against Christ (Rom 8:12-13; Col 3:5). And we must overcome the enemies of Christ by our faith, by the Good News, and by our love (Eph 6:10-20; 1 Jn 2:9-17). God will mete out judgment according to his justice and in his time (Rom 12:19; 2 Thes 1:6-10).
Saul’s war against the Amalekites exemplifies many of the key traits–good and bad–of Saul’s leadership over Israel. Immediately before the story is recounted, the author notes that during Saul’s entire reign he fought valiantly against Israel’s enemies on every side (1 Samuel 14:47-52), and he amassed an army of skilled soldiers. Thus, Saul fulfilled one of the primary reasons the people demanded that Samuel appoint a king over them (1 Samuel 8). Then the author notes that the Lord, through Samuel, directed Saul to attack the Amalekites and utterly destroy them and their belongings as punishment for their cruel attack on the Israelites after they left Egypt to travel to Mount Sinai (Exodus 17; Deuteronomy 25:17-19). So Saul mustered a large number of troops at a place called Telaim and traveled to an otherwise unknown “city of the Amalekites” and lay in lay in wait for them in a valley. Saul also warned the Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law Hobab (also called Jethro), to move away from the Amalekites so they would not be killed in the coming battle. It appears that the Kenites had remained on good terms with the Israelites since the time of Hobab/Jethro and accompanied them as they entered the Promised Land, eventually settling among the Amalekites in the Negev near Arad (Judges 1:16). Saul defeated the Amalekites, pursuing them “from Havilah as far as Shur,” according the the Hebrew text. The region of Havilah, however, was several hundred miles from the Negev, making it unlikely to be the place to which Saul pursued them, and this is underscored by the Septuagint’s substitution of “Elath” for “Havilah”. It is possible that the author was using this phrase as a hyperbolic merism to indicate that Saul pursued the Amalekites throughout the entire land in which they lived (see also Genesis 25:18 regarding the Ishmaelites). But since elsewhere in Scripture the Amalekites are said to live in the Negev and in southern Canaan (Genesis 14:7; Numbers 13:29; 14:45; Judges 1:16), another possibility is that the “Havilah” reading is a textual corruption. The Septuagint translators may have preserved the original reading of “Elath,” or they may have been making their best guess as to the intended location. Simply based on the similarity of spelling and the geography of the region (as shown on this map), it is possible that the original reading was “Hachilah,” a hill where David would later have some close encounters with Saul during his time in the wilderness (1 Samuel 23:19; 26:1). In any case, Saul and his men thoroughly defeated the Amalekites, but they failed to completely destroy them (see 1 Samuel 30) and their belongings. Instead they took King Agag alive and kept the best of the spoils. After this Saul traveled to Carmel and set up a monument for himself, and then he continued on to Gilgal. When Samuel arrived in Gilgal, however, he was angry with Saul for failing to devote all of the Amalekites and their goods to destruction, and he told Saul that the Lord regretted having made him king. Samuel then killed King Agag himself at Gilgal and returned to his home in Ramah. Saul returned to his home in Gibeah, but Samuel never spoke with Saul again.
