1 Samuel 15:19
in 1 Samuel 15So why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you rush upon the plunder and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of Jehovah, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah?
KJV
Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?
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This verse in 1 Samuel 15
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Athanasius of Alexandria296–373
LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF EGYPT 1.11 · Written before 373.
And when Saul was charged with negligence and a breach of the law, he did not benefit his cause by alleging his conduct on other matters. For a defence on one count will not operate to obtain an acquittal on another count; but if all things should be done according to law and justice, a man must defend himself in those particulars wherein he is accused, and must either disprove the past, or else confess it with the promise that he will desist, and do so no more.
This site's exposition
Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night
on 1 Samuel 15:16-19
Samuel's rebuke returns Saul to the beginning, "Although you were once small in your own eyes," the smallness Saul claimed at his anointing. The command is restated in full, "devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites," closing off any reading that the order was partial. Verse 19 names the offense without softening it, since Saul rushed "upon the plunder" and did "evil in the sight of the LORD."
This site's exposition
Why did you rush upon the plunder
Samuel's two questions press the one point of the charge, the plunder taken against the word of the LORD, and leave the victory from Havilah to Shur aside. Athanasius drew the rule of a fair trial from it. A defence on one count, he wrote, wins no acquittal on another.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Finally, because he never had this eye of discretion, he who by God's judgment first deserved to rule over the people of Israel was cast out of his kingdom like something dark out of a healthy body. Having been deceived by the darkness and error of this light, he decided that his own sacrifices were more acceptable to God than obedience to Samuel's command, and in the very act by which he had hoped that he would propitiate the divine majesty he committed sin instead.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 6, Chapter 2 · Written before 604.
proposed
By these words, the disobedience of the proud king is subtly examined: because he first sets before him the gifts that were bestowed, then strikes at the audacity of his transgression through a careful investigation of that same fault. For it is a subtle examination when a crafty sinner is so scrutinized that no excuse for his guilt is left to him, so that God's sentence holds him bound, as it were, to the death of his crime, since no refuge from sin remains for him. Therefore, so that every way of escape may be blocked for the deceitful and proud, both the loftiness of his dignity and the manner of his ministry are recalled to him, when he says: "Were you not, when you were little in your own eyes, made the head among the tribes of Israel? And the Lord said to you: Destroy the sinners of Amalek." And so that, now surrounded and besieged by these arguments, he might catch him, he lays upon him the hand of guilt, saying: "Why then did you not hear the voice of the Lord, but turned to the spoil and did evil in the sight of the Lord?" As if to say: Behold what you were, what you were made, what you ought to have done; behold what you have done; behold how far you have departed from what you ought to have carried out. Therefore, when he pressed further, saying: "Why did you do evil in the eyes of the Lord?" he seized the deceitful defendant, as it were, by surrounding him on every side.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): "Wherefore then didst thou fly upon the spoil, and convert that to thy own use which was to have been destroyed for God's honour?" See what evil the love of money is the root of; but see what is the sinfulness of sin, and that in it which above any thing else makes it evil in the sight of the Lord.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord--Saul was either blinded by a partial and delusive self-love, or he was, in his declaration to Samuel, acting the part of a bold and artful hypocrite. He professed to have fulfilled the divine command, and that the blame of any defects in the execution lay with the people.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלָ֥מָּה | velamah | and <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שָׁמַ֖עְתָּ | shama'ta | did you listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| בְּק֣וֹל | bekol | to [the] voice of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וַתַּ֙עַט֙ | vataat | and did you rush? | H5860 → | 3 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַשָּׁלָ֔ל | hashalal | the plunder | H7998 → | 73 times |
| וַתַּ֥עַשׂ | vataas | and did you do? | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| הָרַ֖ע | hara' | the evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| בְּעֵינֵ֥י | beeinei | in [the] eyes of | H5869 → | 887 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ ס | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וְלָ֥מָּהand <to> why?
velamahH4100 →752 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
שָׁמַ֖עְתָּdid you listen
shama'taH8085 →1159 times
בְּק֣וֹלto [the] voice of
bekolH6963 →506 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וַתַּ֙עַט֙and did you rush?
vataatH5860 →3 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַשָּׁלָ֔לthe plunder
hashalalH7998 →73 times
וַתַּ֥עַשׂand did you do?
vataasH6213 →2628 times
הָרַ֖עthe evil
hara'H7451 →662 times
בְּעֵינֵ֥יin [the] eyes of
beeineiH5869 →887 times
יְהוָֽה׃ סYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Chronicles 33:2And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 28:3
Moreover, Ahaz burned incense in the Valley of Hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Chronicles 28:3
Through
1 Samuel 14:32So they rushed greedily to the plunder, taking sheep, cattle, and calves. They slaughtered them on the ground and ate meat with the blood still in it.
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:26
You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 3:17
This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”
- Deuteronomy 12:16
but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
- Leviticus 17:10–14
If anyone from the house of Israel or a foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from among his people.
- Leviticus 19:26
Through
2 Chronicles 33:6He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking…
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:31
You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 18:21
You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
- Leviticus 19:31
Through
2 Chronicles 36:12And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke for the LORD.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 33:23
but he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; instead, Amon increased his guilt.
- 2 Chronicles 33:23
Where this verse is studied
About 1 Samuel
This page draws on Athanasius of Alexandria, LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF EGYPT 1.11; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 6, Chapter 2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 2.3.1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.