| OLD TESTAMENT | NEW TESTAMENT | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The 7 Books | Old Testament History | Wisdom Books | Major Prophets | Minor Prophets | NT History | Epistles of St. Paul | General Writings | |||
| Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuter. Joshua Judges | Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chron. 2 Chron. | Ezra Nehem. Tobit Judith Esther 1 Macc. 2 Macc. | Job Psalms Proverbs Eccles. Songs Wisdom Sirach | Isaiah Jeremiah Lament. Baruch Ezekiel Daniel | Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah | Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi | Matthew Mark Luke John Acts | Romans 1 Corinth. 2 Corinth. Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians | 1 Thess. 2 Thess. 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews | James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation |
| 1 |
1 But Samuel reminded Saul, It was the Lord that gave me commission to anoint thee king of his people Israel; to his voice thou must needs listen. 2 And this is the message that comes to thee from the Lord of hosts: I have not forgotten how Amalec treated the Israelites, standing in their path when they were on the way here from Egypt. 3 This, then, is thy errand, to destroy Amalec and all his domains, granting no pardon, coveting no plunder, but slaying man and woman, child and infant at the breast, camel and ass. 4 Whereupon Saul summoned all his men to arms, and counted their muster as closely as a shepherd counts his lambs; two hundred thousand warriors, besides ten thousand from Juda. 5 With these, Saul marched to Amalec’s capital, and laid an ambush in the ravine there; 6 but first of all he warned the Cinites, Up, move your camping ground clear of the Amalecites; I would not involve you in their ruin; the men of Israel, on their way here from Egypt, had nothing but kindness from you. So the Cinites separated from Amalec, 7 and Saul routed the Amalecites, driving them before him all the way from Hevila to Sur, on the confines of Egypt. 8 He captured Agag, the Amalecite king, but although he put all the common folk to the sword, 9 he and his army spared Agag; spared, too, the best of the flocks and herds, the choicest garments, the fattest rams; they would not destroy anything that was precious. All that was mean and worthless they destroyed readily enough. | 1 Et dixit Samuel ad Saul: Me misit Dominus ut ungerem te in regem super populum ejus Israël: nunc ergo audi vocem Domini. 2 Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: Recensui quæcumque fecit Amalec Israëli: quomodo restitit ei in via cum ascenderet de Ægypto. 3 Nunc 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. 4 Præcepit itaque Saul populo, et recensuit eos quasi agnos: ducenta millia peditum, et decem millia virorum Juda. 5 Cumque venisset Saul usque ad civitatem Amalec, tetendit insidias in torrente. 6 Dixitque 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. 7 Percussitque Saul Amalec ab Hevila donec venias ad Sur, quæ est e regione Ægypti. 8 Et apprehendit Agag regem Amalec vivum: omne autem vulgus interfecit in ore gladii. 9 Et 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. |
| 10 |
10 And the Lord’s word came to Samuel, 11 I repent, now, of having made Saul king of Israel; he has played me false, and left my command unfulfilled. At this, Samuel was greatly moved, and all night long he pleaded with the Lord. 12 At early dawn he rose up, resolved to find Saul that same morning; Saul, he was told, upon reaching the town of Carmel,[1] had set up a monument there in his own honour, but had passed on now and made his way to Galgala. When Samuel reached it, he found Saul offering the Lord burnt-sacrifice, out of the first-fruits of the plunder taken from Amalec. 13 The Lord’s blessing on thee, was Saul’s greeting to him; I have fulfilled the divine command. | 10 Factum est autem verbum Domini ad Samuel, dicens: 11 Pœnitet me quod constituerim Saul regem: quia dereliquit me, et verba mea opere non implevit. Contristatusque est Samuel, et clamavit ad Dominum tota nocte. 12 Cumque 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. 13 Et cum venisset Samuel ad Saul, dixit ei Saul: Benedictus tu Domino: implevi verbum Domini. |
| 14 |
14 And this bleating of sheep, Samuel asked, that comes to my ears, this lowing of oxen that I hear? 15 Why, answered Saul, these are what they brought back from Amalec; my men saved the best out of flock and herd, to be offered in sacrifice to the Lord; all the rest we have destroyed. 16 May I tell thee, asked Samuel, the message the Lord has given me in the night? and when Saul bade him speak out, 17 he went on, It was little conceit thou hadst of thyself, when the tribes of Israel were committed to thy leadership. And the Lord anointed thee king of Israel, 18 and sent thee on an errand; Up, he said, destroy the sinful men of Amalec, smiting them down till none is left. 19 How is it thou didst not obey the Lord’s command? Why didst thou fall to plundering, in defiance of the Lord’s will? 20 Nay, protested Saul, obey the Lord I did; I went where the Lord’s errand took me, and brought back Agag, king of Amalec, in chains, and destroyed Amalec utterly. 21 If my men carried off sheep and oxen, these were but first-fruits that were saved from the slaughter of all the rest, to be offered up to the Lord their God here in Galgala. 22 What, said Samuel, thinkest thou the Lord’s favour can be won by offering him sacrifice and victim, instead of obeying his divine will? The Lord loves obedience better than any sacrifice, the attentive ear better than the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion is sin as witchcraft is sin, all one with idolatry is the unsubmissive heart. Thou hast revoked thy loyalty to the Lord, and he thy kingship. | 14 Dixitque Samuel: Et quæ est hæc vox gregum, quæ resonat in auribus meis, et armentorum, quam ego audio? 15 Et ait Saul: De Amalec adduxerunt ea: pepercit enim populus melioribus ovibus et armentis ut immolarentur Domino Deo tuo, reliqua vero occidimus. 16 Ait autem Samuel ad Saul: Sine me, et indicabo tibi quæ locutus sit Dominus ad me nocte. Dixitque ei: Loquere. 17 Et ait Samuel: Nonne cum parvulus esses in oculis tuis, caput in tribubus Israël factus es? unxitque te Dominus in regem super Israël, 18 et misit te Dominus in viam, et ait: Vade, et interfice peccatores Amalec, et pugnabis contra eos usque ad internecionem eorum? 19 Quare ergo non audisti vocem Domini: sed versus ad prædam es, et fecisti malum in oculis Domini? 20 Et 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. 21 Tulit autem de præda populus oves et boves, primitias eorum quæ cæsa sunt, ut immolet Domino Deo suo in Galgalis. 22 Et 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. 23 Quoniam quasi peccatum ariolandi est, repugnare: et quasi scelus idololatriæ, nolle acquiescere. Pro eo ergo quod abjecisti sermonem Domini, abjecit te Dominus ne sis rex. |
| 24 |
24 Then Saul confessed to Samuel, I have sinned; I have transgressed the Lord’s will and thy command; I was afraid of my own people, and humoured their desire. 25 Grant that sin forgiveness; let me have thy company, while I go back to pay the Lord worship. 26 Nay, answered Samuel, thou shalt have no company of mine; the Lord has revoked thy kingship over Israel, since thou hast revoked thy loyalty to him. 27 With that, Samuel turned to go, and the other caught him by the border of his cloak, which tore in his hand. 28 This day, Samuel told him, the Lord has torn away the kingship of Israel from thee, and given it to another and a better man than thyself. 29 He who wins victories for Israel does not spare, does not relent; not his to alter his purpose like mortal men.[2] 30 But Saul still pleaded with him, Guilty though I be, at least give me countenance before the elders of my people and before the men of Israel, by bearing me company as I go to worship. 31 Thereupon Samuel turned back and went with him, and worship he did. | 24 Dixitque Saul ad Samuelem: Peccavi, quia prævaricatus sum sermonem Domini et verba tua, timens populum, et obediens voci eorum. 25 Sed nunc porta, quæso, peccatum meum, et revertere mecum, ut adorem Dominum. 26 Et ait Samuel ad Saul: Non revertar tecum, quia projecisti sermonem Domini, et projecit te Dominus ne sis rex super Israël. 27 Et conversus est Samuel ut abiret: ille autem apprehendit summitatem pallii ejus, quæ et scissa est. 28 Et ait ad eum Samuel: Scidit Dominus regnum Israël a te hodie, et tradidit illud proximo tuo meliori te. 29 Porro triumphator in Israël non parcet, et pœnitudine non flectetur: neque enim homo est ut agat pœnitentiam. 30 At ille ait: Peccavi: sed nunc honora me coram senioribus populi mei et coram Israël, et revertere mecum, ut adorem Dominum Deum tuum. 31 Reversus ergo Samuel secutus est Saulem: et adoravit Saul Dominum. |
| 32 |
32 Then Samuel would have Agag, king of Amalec, brought into his presence; and he was brought in, gross of body and trembling with fear; A bitter parting, said he, is this of death.[3] 33 But Samuel told him, Many a woman that sword of thine has made childless, and now a childless woman thy own mother shall be; and he cut Agag to pieces, there in the Lord’s presence at Galgala. 34 So Samuel went back to Ramatha, and Saul to his home at Gabaa, 35 nor did Samuel, long as he lived, meet Saul again. But ever he lamented over him, that the Lord should have made him king of Israel, and afterwards revoked his kingship. | 32 Dixitque Samuel: Adducite ad me Agag regem Amalec. Et oblatus est ei Agag, pinguissimus et tremens. Et dixit Agag: Siccine separat amara mors? 33 Et 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. 34 Abiit autem Samuel in Ramatha: Saul vero ascendit in domum suam in Gabaa. 35 Et non vidit Samuel ultra Saul usque ad diem mortis suæ: verumtamen lugebat Samuel Saulem, quoniam Dominum pœnitebat quod constituisset eum regem super Israël. |
[1] A town near Hebron, quite unconnected with mount Carmel in the north; cf. 25.2.
[2] Samuel here rebukes the optimism of Saul (verse 25) by pointing out that God does not take rash decisions and then go back on them, as we men do. There is only a verbal contradiction between this theological statement of the case and the phrase ‘I repent’ used in verse 11 above; in verse 11 (as often in the Old Testament) the Divine attitude is loosely described in the language of ordinary human life.
[3] ‘A bitter parting is this of death’; literally, ‘Does bitter death so separate?’ The Hebrew text is generally interpreted as meaning ‘The bitterness of death has already been removed’.
Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd
