Add parallel Print Page Options

33 Samuel said, “Just as your sword left women childless, so your mother will be the most bereaved[a] among women.” Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces there in Gilgal before the Lord.

34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, while Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day he[b] died, Samuel did not see Saul again. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 15:33 tn Heb “bereaved more than [other] women.” The verb שָׁכָל (shakal) is a stative verb in the Qal stem meaning “to be bereaved” (HALOT 1492), that is, to be deprived of a loved one (a child) by death. Stative verbs are typically modified by מִן (min) with its comparative sense. A passive verb can also behave this way; compare Judges 5:24 where Jael is “most blessed of women.” While any woman’s loss of a child is tragic, perhaps from a social perspective because of his high position as king, his mother’s loss is construed as greater.
  2. 1 Samuel 15:35 tn That is, Samuel.