1 Samuel 15

1And Samuel said to Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over his People Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the Lord:

2Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have reckoned up all that Amalec hath done to Israel: I how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt.

3Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath: 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.

4So Saul commanded the people, and numbered them as lambs: two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand of the men of Juda.

5And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in the torrent.

6And 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.

7And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which is over against Egypt.

8And he took Agag the king of Amalec alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword.

9And Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the flocks of sheep and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them: but every thing that was vile and good for nothing, that they destroyed.

10And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying:

11It repenteth me that I have made Saul king: for he hath forsaken me, and hath not executed my commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night.

12And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, that Saul was come to Carmel, and 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.

13And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.

14And Samuel said: What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear?

15And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain.

16And 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.

17And 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.

18And 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.

19Why 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.

20And 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.

21But the people took of the spoils sheep and oxen, as the firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal.

22And 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 sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams.

23Because 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.

24And Saul said to Samuel: I have sinned because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, fearing the people, and obeying their voice.

25But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord.

26And Samuel said to Saul: I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

27And Samuel turned about to go away: but he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

28And Samuel said to him: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbour who is better than thee.

29But the triumpher in Israel will riot spare, and will not be moved to repentance: for he is not a mail that he should repent.

30Then he said: I have sinned: yet honour me now before the ancients of my people, and before Israel, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord thy God.

31So Samuel turned again after Saul: and Saul adored the Lord.

32And Samuel said: Bring hitherto me Agag the king of Amalec. And Agag was presented to him very fat, and trembling. And Agag said: Doth bitter death separate in this manner?

33And Samuel said: As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed him in pieces before the Lord in Galgal.

34And Samuel departed to Ramatha: but Saul went up to his house in Gabaa.

35And Samuel saw Saul no more till the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, because the Lord repented that he had made him king over Israel.

1Et dixit Samuel ad Saul: Me misit Dominus ut ungerem te in regem super populum ejus Israël: nunc ergo audi vocem Domini.

2Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: Recensui quæcumque fecit Amalec Israëli: quomodo restitit ei in via cum ascenderet de Ægypto.

3Nunc ergo vade, et percute Amalec, et demolire universa ejus: non parcas ei, et non concupiscas ex rebus ipsius aliquid, sed interfice a viro usque ad mulierem, et parvulum atque lactentem, bovem et ovem, camelum et asinum.

4Præcepit itaque Saul populo, et recensuit eos quasi agnos: ducenta millia peditum, et decem millia virorum Juda.

5Cumque venisset Saul usque ad civitatem Amalec, tetendit insidias in torrente.

6Dixitque Saul Cinæo: Abite, recedite, atque descendite ab Amalec, ne forte involvam te cum eo: tu enim fecisti misericordiam cum omnibus filiis Israël, cum ascenderent de Ægypto. Et recessit Cinæus de medio Amalec.

7Percussitque Saul Amalec ab Hevila donec venias ad Sur, quæ est e regione Ægypti.

8Et apprehendit Agag regem Amalec vivum: omne autem vulgus interfecit in ore gladii.

9Et pepercit Saul et populus Agag, et optimis gregibus ovium et armentorum, et vestibus et arietibus, et universis quæ pulchra erant, nec voluerunt disperdere ea: quidquid vero vile fuit et reprobum, hoc demoliti sunt.

10Factum est autem verbum Domini ad Samuel, dicens:

11Pœnitet me quod constituerim Saul regem: quia dereliquit me, et verba mea opere non implevit. Contristatusque est Samuel, et clamavit ad Dominum tota nocte.

12Cumque de nocte surrexisset Samuel ut iret ad Saul mane, nuntiatum est Samueli eo quod venisset Saul in Carmelum, et erexisset sibi fornicem triumphalem, et reversus transisset, descendissetque in Galgala. Venit ergo Samuel ad Saul, et Saul offerebat holocaustum Domino de initiis prædarum quæ attulerat ex Amalec.

13Et cum venisset Samuel ad Saul, dixit ei Saul: Benedictus tu Domino: implevi verbum Domini.

14Dixitque Samuel: Et quæ est hæc vox gregum, quæ resonat in auribus meis, et armentorum, quam ego audio?

15Et ait Saul: De Amalec adduxerunt ea: pepercit enim populus melioribus ovibus et armentis ut immolarentur Domino Deo tuo, reliqua vero occidimus.

16Ait autem Samuel ad Saul: Sine me, et indicabo tibi quæ locutus sit Dominus ad me nocte. Dixitque ei: Loquere.

17Et ait Samuel: Nonne cum parvulus esses in oculis tuis, caput in tribubus Israël factus es? unxitque te Dominus in regem super Israël,

18et misit te Dominus in viam, et ait: Vade, et interfice peccatores Amalec, et pugnabis contra eos usque ad internecionem eorum?

19Quare ergo non audisti vocem Domini: sed versus ad prædam es, et fecisti malum in oculis Domini?

20Et ait Saul ad Samuelem: Immo audivi vocem Domini, et ambulavi in via per quam misit me Dominus, et adduxi Agag regem Amalec, et Amalec interfeci.

21Tulit autem de præda populus oves et boves, primitias eorum quæ cæsa sunt, ut immolet Domino Deo suo in Galgalis.

22Et ait Samuel: Numquid vult Dominus holocausta et victimas, et non potius ut obediatur voci Domini? melior est enim obedientia quam victimæ, et auscultare magis quam offerre adipem arietum.

23Quoniam quasi peccatum ariolandi est, repugnare: et quasi scelus idololatriæ, nolle acquiescere. Pro eo ergo quod abjecisti sermonem Domini, abjecit te Dominus ne sis rex.

24Dixitque Saul ad Samuelem: Peccavi, quia prævaricatus sum sermonem Domini et verba tua, timens populum, et obediens voci eorum.

25Sed nunc porta, quæso, peccatum meum, et revertere mecum, ut adorem Dominum.

26Et ait Samuel ad Saul: Non revertar tecum, quia projecisti sermonem Domini, et projecit te Dominus ne sis rex super Israël.

27Et conversus est Samuel ut abiret: ille autem apprehendit summitatem pallii ejus, quæ et scissa est.

28Et ait ad eum Samuel: Scidit Dominus regnum Israël a te hodie, et tradidit illud proximo tuo meliori te.

29Porro triumphator in Israël non parcet, et pœnitudine non flectetur: neque enim homo est ut agat pœnitentiam.

30At ille ait: Peccavi: sed nunc honora me coram senioribus populi mei et coram Israël, et revertere mecum, ut adorem Dominum Deum tuum.

31Reversus ergo Samuel secutus est Saulem: et adoravit Saul Dominum.

32Dixitque Samuel: Adducite ad me Agag regem Amalec. Et oblatus est ei Agag, pinguissimus et tremens. Et dixit Agag: Siccine separat amara mors?

33Et ait Samuel: Sicut fecit absque liberis mulieres gladius tuus, sic absque liberis erit inter mulieres mater tua. Et in frustra concidit eum Samuel coram Domino in Galgalis.

34Abiit autem Samuel in Ramatha: Saul vero ascendit in domum suam in Gabaa.

35Et non vidit Samuel ultra Saul usque ad diem mortis suæ: verumtamen lugebat Samuel Saulem, quoniam Dominum pœnitebat quod constituisset eum regem super Israël.

1And Samuel said to Saul: “The Lord sent me, so that I would anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now therefore, listen to the voice of the Lord.

2‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: I have taken account of all that Amalek has done to Israel, how he stood against him in the way, when he ascended from Egypt.

3Now therefore, go and strike Amalek, and demolish all that is his. You shall not spare him, and you shall not covet anything out of the things that are his. Instead, kill from man even to woman, and little ones as well as infants, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”

4And so, Saul instructed the people, and he numbered them like lambs: two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and ten thousand men of Judah.

5And when Saul had arrived as far as the city of Amalek, he placed ambushes at the torrent.

6And Saul said to the Kenite: “Go away, withdraw, and descend from Amalek. Otherwise, I will include you with him. For you showed mercy to all the sons of Israel, when they ascended from Egypt.” And so the Kenite withdrew from the midst of Amalek.

7And Saul struck down Amalek, from Havilah even until you arrive at Shur, which is opposite the region of Egypt.

8And he apprehended Agag, the king of Amalek, alive. But all the common people he put to death with the edge of the sword.

9And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the flocks of sheep, and of the herds, and the garments, and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and they were not willing to destroy them. Yet truly, whatever was vile or worthless, these they demolished.

10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying

11“It displeases me that I have appointed Saul as king. For he has forsaken me, and he has not fulfilled the work of my words.” And Samuel was greatly saddened, and he cried out to the Lord, all night long

12And when Samuel had risen while it was still dark, so that he might go to Saul in the morning, it was reported to Samuel that Saul had arrived at Carmel, and that he had erected for himself a triumphant arch. And, while returning, he had continued on and descended to Gilgal. Therefore, Samuel went to Saul. And Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord, from the best of the spoils, which he had brought from Amalek.

13And when Samuel had gone to Saul, Saul said to him: “You are the blessed of the Lord. I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.”

14And Samuel said, “Then what is this voice of the flocks, which resounds in my ears, and of the herds, which I am hearing?”

15And Saul said: “They have brought these from Amalek. For the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds, so that they might be immolated to the Lord your God. Yet truly, the remainder we have slain.”

16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Permit me, and I will reveal to you what the Lord has said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

17And Samuel said: “Was it not when you were little in your own eyes that you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed you as king over Israel.

18And the Lord sent you on the way, and he said: ‘Go and put to death the sinners of Amalek. And you shall fight against them, even unto utter annihilation.’

19Why then, did you not listen to the voice of the Lord? Instead, you turned to the spoils, and you did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

20And Saul said to Samuel: “On the contrary, I did listen to the voice of the Lord, and I walked in the way along which the Lord sent me, and I led back Agag, the king of Amalek, and I put to death Amalek.

21But the people took some of the spoils, sheep and oxen, as the first-fruits of those things that were slain, to immolate to the Lord their God at Gilgal.”

22And Samuel said: “Does the Lord want holocausts and victims, and not instead that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifice. And to heed is greater than to offer the fat of rams.

23Therefore, it is like the sin of paganism to rebel. And it is like the crime of idolatry to refuse to obey. For this reason, therefore, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has also rejected you from being king.”

24And Saul said to Samuel: “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the word of the Lord, and your words, by fearing the people and obeying their voice.

25But now, I beg you, to bear my sin, and to return with me, so that I may adore the Lord.”

26And Samuel 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.”

27And Samuel turned away, so that he might depart. But Saul took hold of the edge of his cloak, and it tore.

28And Samuel said to him: “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you this day. And he has delivered it to your neighbor, who is better than you are.

29Moreover, the One who triumphs within Israel will not spare, and he will not be moved to repentance. For he is not a man, that he should repent.”

30Then he said: “I have sinned. But now, honor me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and return with me, so that I may adore the Lord your God.”

31Therefore, Samuel turned again after Saul. And Saul adored the Lord.

32And Samuel said, “Bring near to me Agag, the king of Amalek.” And Agag, very fat and trembling, was presented to him. And Agag said, “Does bitter death separate in this manner?”

33And Samuel said, “Just as your sword caused women to be without their children, so will your mother be without her children among women.” And Samuel cut him into pieces, before the Lord at Gilgal.

34Then Samuel went away to Ramah. But Saul ascended to his house at Gibeah.

35And Samuel did not see Saul any more, until the day of his death. Yet truly, Samuel mourned for Saul, because the Lord regretted that he had appointed him as king over Israel.