1 Samuel 15:8
New International Version
He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword.

New Living Translation
He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else.

English Standard Version
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.

Berean Standard Bible
He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.

King James Bible
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

New King James Version
He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

New American Standard Bible
He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and completely destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

NASB 1995
He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

NASB 1977
And he captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Legacy Standard Bible
And he seized Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.

Amplified Bible
He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, though he totally destroyed all [the rest of] the people with the sword.

Christian Standard Bible
He captured King Agag of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.

American Standard Version
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Contemporary English Version
Every Amalekite was killed except King Agag.

English Revised Version
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He captured King Agag of Amalek alive. But he claimed all the people for God by destroying them.

Good News Translation
he captured King Agag of Amalek alive and killed all the people.

International Standard Version
He captured alive Agag king of Amalek, but he completely destroyed all the people, executing them with swords.

Majority Standard Bible
He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.

NET Bible
He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all Agag's people with the sword.

New Heart English Bible
He took Agag the king of Amalek alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

World English Bible
He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
and he catches Agag king of Amalek alive, and he has devoted all the people by the mouth of the sword;

Young's Literal Translation
and he catcheth Agag king of Amalek alive, and all the people he hath devoted by the mouth of the sword;

Smith's Literal Translation
And he will seize Agag, king of Amalek, living, and be exterminated all the people with the mouth of the sword.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he took Agag the king of Amalec alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And he apprehended Agag, the king of Amalek, alive. But all the common people he put to death with the edge of the sword.

New American Bible
He took Agag, king of Amalek, alive, but the rest of the people he destroyed by the sword, putting them under the ban.

New Revised Standard Version
He took King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And he seized Agag, King of Amaleq, when he was alive, and he destroyed all the people with the mouth of the sword
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he took Agag the king of Amalec alive, and he slew all the people and Hierim with the edge of the sword.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Saul's Disobedience
7Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword. 9Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to destroy them, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.…

Cross References
Exodus 17:14-16
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” / And Moses built an altar and named it The LORD Is My Banner. / “Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD. The LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

Deuteronomy 25:17-19
Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt, / how they met you on your journey when you were tired and weary, and they attacked all your stragglers; they had no fear of God. / When the LORD your God gives you rest from the enemies around you in the land that He is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you are to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

1 Samuel 28:18
Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out His burning anger against Amalek, the LORD has done this to you today.

1 Samuel 30:1-2
On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down. / They had taken captive the women and all who were there, both young and old. They had not killed anyone, but had carried them off as they went on their way.

2 Samuel 1:8-10
‘Who are you?’ he asked. So I told him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ / Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for agony has seized me, but my life still lingers.’ / So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”

Esther 3:1
After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

Esther 9:24-25
For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them. / But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Psalm 83:4-7
saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation; may the name of Israel be remembered no more.” / For with one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against You— / the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites, ...

Isaiah 63:1-6
Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.” / Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress? / “I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained. ...

Ezekiel 25:12-14
This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt, / therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword. / I will take My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they will deal with Edom according to My anger and wrath. Then they will know My vengeance, declares the Lord GOD.’

Obadiah 1:10-14
Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever. / On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them. / But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress. ...

Matthew 1:1-16
This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: / Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. / Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. ...

Matthew 5:17
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

Luke 3:23-38
Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His ministry. He was regarded as the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, / the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, / the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ...

John 8:39-41
“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham. / But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. / You are doing the works of your father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they declared. “Our only Father is God Himself.”


Treasury of Scripture

And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Agag

1 Samuel 15:3
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

Numbers 24:7
He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.

1 Kings 20:30,34-42
But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Benhadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber…

utterly

1 Samuel 27:8
And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.

1 Samuel 30:1
And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;

Joshua 10:39
And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king.

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1 Samuel 15
1. Samuel sends Saul to destroy Amalek
6. Saul favors the Kenites
7. He spares Agag and the best of the spoil
10. Samuel denounces unto Saul God's rejection of him for his disobedience
24. Saul's humiliation
32. Samuel kills Agag
34. Samuel and Saul part














He captured Agag king of the Amalekites alive
The phrase "He captured Agag king of the Amalekites alive" highlights a significant moment in the narrative of Saul's kingship. The Hebrew root for "captured" is "לָכַד" (lakad), which implies taking possession or seizing. This act of capturing Agag, rather than killing him as commanded, reflects Saul's disobedience to God's explicit instructions given through the prophet Samuel. Historically, the Amalekites were long-standing enemies of Israel, and God's command to destroy them was a divine judgment for their past transgressions against His people (Exodus 17:8-16). Agag, as their king, symbolizes the Amalekite threat and their opposition to God's covenant people. Saul's decision to spare Agag reveals a failure to fully submit to God's will, prioritizing political gain or personal mercy over divine command.

but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword
The phrase "but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword" uses the Hebrew term "חָרַם" (charam), meaning to devote to destruction or to utterly destroy. This term is often used in the context of holy war, where certain things are set apart for God, either by destruction or by being given to the sanctuary. The act of devoting to destruction was meant to be an act of obedience and worship, acknowledging God's sovereignty and justice. The use of "the sword" signifies the means of executing God's judgment, a common biblical symbol of divine retribution. Saul's partial obedience—destroying the rest but sparing Agag—demonstrates a selective adherence to God's commands, which ultimately leads to his rejection as king. This narrative serves as a sobering reminder of the importance of complete obedience to God, emphasizing that partial obedience is, in essence, disobedience. Saul's actions contrast with the call to trust and obey God fully, recognizing His wisdom and authority in all matters.

Verse 8. - He took Agag. This was the official name of the Amalekite kings (see Numbers 24:7), as Pharaoh was that of the kings of Egypt. For its meaning we must wait till we know more about the language of this race. Agag, however, from ver. 32, seems to have been able to speak Hebrew. He utterly destroyed - i.e. put under the ban - all the people. They appear, however, again in 1 Samuel 27:8, and with so vast a wilderness in which to take refuge, it would be impossible really to exterminate a people used to lead a wandering life. Moreover, as soon as Israel began to lay hands on the spoil the pursuit would flag, as the cattle would be killed by over driving.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
He captured
וַיִּתְפֹּ֛שׂ (way·yiṯ·pōś)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 8610: To manipulate, seize, chiefly to capture, wield, to overlay, to use unwarrantably

Agag
אֲגַ֥ג (’ă·ḡaḡ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 90: Agag -- king of Amalek

king
מֶֽלֶךְ־ (me·leḵ-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4428: A king

of Amalek
עֲמָלֵ֖ק (‘ă·mā·lêq)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 6002: Amalek -- a descendant of Esau, also his posterity

alive,
חָ֑י (ḥāy)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life

but completely destroyed
הֶחֱרִ֥ים (he·ḥĕ·rîm)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2763: To seclude, to devote to religious uses, to be blunt as to the nose

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

the others
הָעָ֖ם (hā·‘ām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

with the sword.
חָֽרֶב׃ (ḥā·reḇ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword


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OT History: 1 Samuel 15:8 He took Agag the king (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 15:7
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