1 Samuel 15:30-35

30 Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”

31 So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.” Agag came to him in chains.^[a] And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

33 But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel put Agag to death before the LORD at Gilgal.

34 Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.

35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Samuel 15:30-35 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 15

In this chapter are recorded the order Saul had from the Lord to destroy Amalek utterly, 1Sa 15:1-3 the preparation he made to put it in execution, and the success thereof, 1Sa 15:4-9 the offence the Lord took at his not obeying his order thoroughly, with which Samuel was made acquainted, and which grieved him, 1Sa 15:10,11, upon which he went out to meet Saul, and reprove him; and a long discourse upon the subject passed between them, the issue of which was, that by an irrevocable decree he was rejected from being king, 1Sa 15:12-31 and the chapter is concluded with an account of Samuel's hewing in pieces Agag king of Amalek, and of his final departure from Saul, 1Sa 15:32-35.

Cross References

• 1. S Numbers 22:34
• 2. Isaiah 29:13; John 5:44; John 12:43
• 3. Esther 9:7-10; Jeremiah 18:21; Genesis 9:6; Judges 1:7
• 4. S 1 Samuel 7:17
• 5. S Judges 19:14; S 1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 11:4
• 6. 1 Samuel 19:24
• 7. ver 11; 1 Samuel 16:1
• 8. S Genesis 6:6

Footnotes

• [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.