1 Samuel 15:7-9

New English Translation

⁷Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to^[a] Shur, which is next to Egypt. ⁸He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all Agag’s people^[b] with the sword. ⁹However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings,^[c] and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value.^[d] They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised^[e] and worthless.

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Footnotes

1 Samuel 15:7 tn Heb “[as] you enter.”
1 Samuel 15:8 tn Heb “all the people.” For clarity “Agag’s” has been supplied in the translation.
1 Samuel 15:9 tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. We should probably read וְהַמַּשְׂמַנִּים (v^ehammasmannim, “the fat ones”) rather than the MT וְהַמִּשְׂנִים (v^ehammisnim, “the second ones”). However, if the MT is retained, the sense may be as the Jewish commentator Kimchi supposed: the second-born young, thought to be better than the firstlings. (For discussion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 123-24.)
1 Samuel 15:9 tn Heb “good.”
1 Samuel 15:9 tc The MT has here the very odd form נְמִבְזָה (n^emivzah), but this is apparently due to a scribal error. The translation follows instead the Niphal participle נִבְזָה (nivzah).

New English Translation (NET)

1 Samuel 15:7-9 New English Translation

Footnotes

1 Samuel 15:7-9

New English Translation