1 Samuel 15:20

Guilt and conscience Truth and honesty Obedience

¹⁸ and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’

¹⁹ So why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you rush upon the plunder and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”

“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the LORD gave me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and devoted the Amalekites to destruction.

²¹ The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

²² But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the LORD gave me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and devoted the Amalekites to destruction.
KJV: And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
WEB: Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the LORD’s voice, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
ASV: And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah, and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
DARBY: And Saul said to Samuel, I have indeed hearkened to the voice of Jehovah, and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
BLB: And Saul said to Samuel, “Because I have listened to the voice of YHWH and gone in the way that YHWH sent me and brought back Agag king of Amalek, and the Amalekite I have devoted to destruction.

ÅB: Da sa Saul til Samuel: Jeg har lydt Herrens ord og har gått den vei Herren sendte meg; jeg har ført Agag, Amaleks konge, hit og slått Amalek med bann.
OTB: Da sa Saul til Samuel: «Jeg har virkelig fulgt Herrens røst, og gikk på det oppdraget som Herren sendte meg på, og har brakt tilbake Agag, amalekittenes konge, og har ødelagt amalekittene fullstendig.
B1930: Da sa Saul til Samuel: Jeg har lydt Herrens ord og har gått den vei Herren sendte mig; jeg har ført Agag, Amaleks konge, hit og slått Amalek med bann.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

1 Samuel 15:13
When Samuel reached him, Saul said to him, “May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”
Read in context
Matthew 19:20
“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”
Read in context
Romans 10:3
Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Read in context
Job 34:5
For Job has declared, ‘I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.
Read in context
Job 35:2
“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
Read in context
Luke 18:11
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
Read in context
1 Samuel 15:3
Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
Read in context
Job 33:9
‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me.
Read in context