translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “to the voice of the words of the Lord ” (so KJV).


text: Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).


text: Heb “caused the people to hear.”


text: Heb “people.”


label: NET textual note

text: The LXX has the plural here, “cities.”


text: The translation follows the LXX and Vulgate which assume a reading וַיָּאָרֶב ( vayya ’ arev , “and he set an ambush,” from the root ארב [’ rv ] with quiescence of alef ) rather than the MT, which has וַיָּרֶב ( vayyareb , “and he contended,” from the root ריב [ ryv ]).


text: That is, “the dry stream bed.”


text: The translation follows the Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate which assume a reading אֶסִפְךָ (’ esfÿka , “I sweep you away,” from the root ספה [ sfh ]) rather than the MT אֹסִפְךָ (’ osifÿka , “I am gathering you,” from the root אסף [’ sf ]).


text: Heb “[as] you enter.”


text: Heb “all the people.” For clarity “Agag’s” has been supplied in the translation.


text: The Hebrew text is difficult here. We should probably read וְהַמַּשְׂמַנִּים ( vÿhammasmannim , “the fat ones”) rather than the MT וְהַמִּשְׂנִים ( vÿhammisnim , “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.)


text: Heb “good.”


text: The MT has here the very odd form נְמִבְזָה ( nÿmivzah) , but this is apparently due to a scribal error. The translation follows instead the Niphal participle נִבְזָה ( nivzah ) .


text: Heb “and look.”


text: Heb “and he turned and crossed over.”


text: At the end of v. 12 the LXX and one Old Latin ms include the following words not found in the MT: “to Saul. And behold, he was offering as a burnt offering to the Lord the best of the spoils that he had brought from the Amalekites.”


text: Heb “to Saul.”


text: The words “if that is the case” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “they brought them.”


text: Or perhaps “be quiet.”


text: The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the singular (“he said”) rather than the plural (“they said”) of the Kethib . tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “anointed.”


text: Heb “journey.”


text: The translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum in reading the second person singular suffix (“you”) rather than the third person plural suffix of the MT (“they”).


text: Heb “listened to the voice of the Lord .”


text: Heb “you have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord .”


text: Heb “as [in] listening to the voice of the Lord .”


text: Heb “look.”


text: Heb “listening.”


text: The expression “is better” is understood here by ellipsis (see the immediately preceding statement).


text: Or “from [being].”


text: Heb “the mouth of the Lord .”


text: Heb “and your words.”


text: Heb “he,” but Saul is clearly the referent. A Qumran ms and the LXX include the name “Saul” here.


text: Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord .


text: Or perhaps “does not lie.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The MT reading מַעֲדַנֹּת ( ma ’ adannot , literally, “bonds,” used here adverbially, “in bonds”) is difficult. The word is found only here and in Job 38:31 . Part of the problem lies in determining the root of the word. Some scholars have taken it to be from the root ענד (’ nd , “to bind around”), but this assumes a metathesis of two of the letters of the root. Others take it from the root עדן (’ dn ) with the meaning “voluptuously,” but this does not seem to fit the context. It seems better to understand the word to be from the root מעד ( m ’ d , “to totter” or “shake”). In that case it describes the fear that Agag experienced in realizing the mortal danger that he faced as he approached Samuel. This is the way that the LXX translators understood the word, rendering it by the Greek participle τρέμον ( tremon , “trembling”).


text: Heb “and Agag said.”


text: The text is difficult here. With the LXX, two Old Latin mss , and the Syriac Peshitta it is probably preferable to delete סָר ( sar , “is past”) of the MT; it looks suspiciously like a dittograph of the following word מַר ( mar , “bitter”). This further affects the interpretation of Agag’s comment. In the MT he comes to Samuel confidently assured that the danger is over (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV “Surely the bitterness of death is past,” along with NLT, CEV). However, it seems more likely that Agag realized that his fortunes had suddenly taken a turn for the worse and that the clemency he had enjoyed from Saul would not be his lot from Samuel. The present translation thus understands Agag to approach not confidently but in the stark realization that his death is imminent (“Surely death is bitter!”). Cf. NAB “So it is bitter death!”; NRSV “Surely this is the bitterness of death”; TEV “What a bitter thing it is to die!”


text: That is, Samuel.