1 Samuel 15
La Bible du Semeur
La guerre contre les Amalécites et la nouvelle désobéissance de Saül
15 Un jour, Samuel dit à Saül : C’est moi que l’Eternel a envoyé pour te conférer l’onction qui t’a établi roi de son peuple, Israël. Maintenant donc, écoute les paroles de l’Eternel. 2 Voici ce que déclare l’Eternel, le Seigneur des armées célestes : « J’ai décidé de punir les Amalécites pour ce qu’ils ont fait au peuple d’Israël, en se mettant en travers de sa route quand il venait d’Egypte[a]. 3 Maintenant, va les attaquer et voue-les moi[b] en les exterminant totalement avec tout ce qui leur appartient. Sois sans pitié et fais périr hommes et femmes, enfants et bébés, bœufs, moutons, chèvres, chameaux et ânes. »
4 Saül mobilisa son armée et la passa en revue à Telaïm ; il compta deux cent mille soldats des provinces du Nord et dix mille hommes de Juda[c]. 5 Il les conduisit jusqu’à la ville d’Amalec et plaça une embuscade dans le ravin. 6 Puis il fit dire aux Qéniens : Partez, séparez-vous des Amalécites pour que je ne vous fasse pas subir le même sort qu’à eux, car vous avez été bons envers les Israélites quand ils venaient d’Egypte.
Les Qéniens se retirèrent donc du milieu des Amalécites[d].
7 Saül battit Amalec depuis Havila jusqu’aux abords de Shour à l’est de l’Egypte[e]. 8 Il captura Agag, roi d’Amalec, vivant, et extermina toute la population par l’épée. 9 Saül et ses soldats épargnèrent Agag ainsi que les meilleurs animaux du butin : moutons, chèvres et bœufs, bêtes grasses et agneaux ; ils ne voulurent pas les détruire pour les vouer à l’Eternel. Par contre, ils détruisirent tout ce qui était méprisable et sans valeur.
L’Eternel rejette Saül
10 L’Eternel parla à Samuel et lui dit : 11 Je décide d’annuler ce que j’ai fait en établissant Saül roi, car il s’est détourné de moi et il n’a pas tenu compte de mes ordres.
Samuel en fut bouleversé et il implora l’Eternel toute la nuit. 12 Le lendemain matin, il partit trouver Saül. En chemin, il apprit que celui-ci s’était rendu à Karmel[f] pour y ériger un mémorial, puis qu’il était reparti en direction de Guilgal. 13 Finalement, Samuel le rejoignit[g]. Saül l’aborda par ces mots : Que l’Eternel te bénisse ! J’ai exécuté l’ordre de l’Eternel.
14 Mais Samuel lui demanda : D’où viennent donc ces bêlements de moutons qui résonnent à mes oreilles et ces mugissements de bœufs que j’entends ?
15 Saül répondit : Ils les ont ramenés de chez les Amalécites, car les soldats ont épargné les meilleures bêtes parmi les moutons et les bœufs pour les offrir en sacrifice à l’Eternel ton Dieu ; le reste nous l’avons totalement détruit.
16 – Assez, interrompit Samuel. Je vais t’apprendre ce que l’Eternel m’a dit cette nuit.
– Parle, lui dit Saül.
17 Et Samuel lui déclara : Alors que tu te considérais comme un personnage peu important, tu es devenu le chef des tribus d’Israël et l’Eternel t’a oint pour t’établir roi d’Israël. 18 Il t’a envoyé en campagne avec cet ordre précis : « Va et détruis les Amalécites pour me les vouer, ce peuple de pécheurs, en les combattant jusqu’à leur totale extermination. »
19 Alors pourquoi n’as-tu pas obéi à l’ordre de l’Eternel ? Pourquoi as-tu fait ce qu’il considère comme mal en te précipitant sur le butin ?
20 Saül répliqua : Mais si, j’ai obéi à l’ordre de l’Eternel et j’ai accompli la mission qu’il m’avait confiée : j’ai ramené Agag, roi d’Amalec, et j’ai exterminé les Amalécites pour les vouer à l’Eternel. 21 Mais les soldats ont prélevé sur le butin les meilleurs moutons et les meilleurs bœufs qui devaient être voués à l’Eternel par destruction, pour les offrir en sacrifice à l’Eternel ton Dieu à Guilgal.
L’obéissance vaut mieux que les sacrifices
22 Samuel lui dit alors :
Les holocaustes et les sacrifices
font-ils autant plaisir à l’Eternel
que l’obéissance à ses ordres ?
Non ! Car l’obéissance ╵est préférable aux sacrifices,
la soumission vaut mieux ╵que la graisse des béliers.
23 Car l’insoumission est aussi coupable ╵que le péché de divination
et la désobéissance aussi grave ╵que le péché d’idolâtrie.
Puisque tu as rejeté les ordres de
l’Eternel,
lui aussi te rejette et te retire la
royauté.
24 Alors Saül répondit à Samuel : J’ai péché, car j’ai transgressé l’ordre de l’Eternel et tes instructions, parce que j’ai eu peur de mécontenter mes soldats, et j’ai cédé à leurs demandes. 25 A présent, je t’en prie, pardonne ma faute ; et reviens avec moi pour que je me prosterne devant l’Eternel.
26 – Non, répliqua Samuel. Je n’irai pas avec toi, car tu as rejeté les ordres de l’Eternel, c’est pourquoi l’Eternel te rejette aussi et te retire la royauté sur Israël.
27 Comme Samuel se retournait pour partir, Saül le saisit par le pan de son manteau et le morceau fut arraché. 28 Alors Samuel lui déclara : C’est ainsi que l’Eternel t’arrache aujourd’hui la royauté d’Israël pour la donner à un autre qui est meilleur que toi. 29 Sois-en certain : Celui qui est la gloire d’Israël ne ment pas et ne se rétractera pas, car il n’est pas comme un être humain pour se rétracter.
30 Saül répéta : J’ai péché ! Toutefois, en ce moment, je t’en supplie, continue à m’honorer devant les responsables de mon peuple et devant Israël. Reviens avec moi et je me prosternerai devant l’Eternel ton Dieu !
31 A la fin, Samuel l’accompagna et Saül se prosterna devant l’Eternel. 32 Samuel ordonna : Amenez-moi Agag, roi d’Amalec !
Celui-ci arriva d’un air content[h], car il se disait : « Certainement l’amertume de la mort s’est éloignée. »
33 Mais Samuel lui déclara : Ton épée a privé bien des femmes de leurs enfants, à présent c’est ta mère qui sera privée de son fils !
Et Samuel exécuta Agag devant l’Eternel à Guilgal.
34 Puis il retourna à Rama, et Saül rentra chez lui à Guibéa de Saül.
35 Samuel n’alla plus voir Saül jusqu’au jour de sa mort ; mais il était dans l’affliction à son sujet parce que l’Eternel avait décidé d’annuler ce qu’il avait fait en l’établissant roi sur Israël.
Footnotes
- 15.2 Voir Ex 17.8-16.
- 15.3 Voir Lv 27.28-29.
- 15.4 Il pourrait s’agir de deux cents « milliers » de soldats et de dix « milliers » d’hommes de Juda (voir note 8.12).
- 15.6 Voir Jg 4.11 et note.
- 15.7 Shour est situé sur la frontière orientale de l’Egypte (27.8 ; Gn 16.7 ; 20.1). Havila semble s’appliquer à toute la région du désert au sud-est du pays d’Israël (voir Gn 25.18).
- 15.12 Localité de Juda située à une douzaine de kilomètres au sud d’Hébron (voir 25.2 ; Jos 15.55).
- 15.13 L’ancienne version grecque ajoute ici : pendant qu’il offrait des holocaustes à l’Eternel, pris sur le butin qu’il avait ramené d’Amalec.
- 15.32 Autres traductions : plein d’assurance ou en tremblant.
1 Samuel 15
New King James Version
Saul Spares King Agag
15 Samuel also said to Saul, (A)“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, (B)how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and (C)attack[a] Amalek, and (D)utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
6 Then Saul said to (E)the Kenites, (F)“Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For (G)you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 (H)And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from (I)Havilah all the way to (J)Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 (K)He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and (L)utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people (M)spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Saul Rejected as King
10 Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 (N)“I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has (O)turned back from following Me, (P)and has not performed My commandments.” And it (Q)grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. 12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to (R)Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.” 13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, (S)“Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; (T)for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
And he said to him, “Speak on.”
17 So Samuel said, (U)“When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are [b]consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the [c]spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20 And Saul said to Samuel, (V)“But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 (W)But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22 So Samuel said:
(X)“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, (Y)to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of [d]witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
(Z)He also has rejected you from being king.”
24 (AA)Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I (AB)feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, (AC)for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27 And as Samuel turned around to go away, (AD)Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, (AE)“The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Strength of Israel (AF)will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet (AG)honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously.
And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33 But Samuel said, (AH)“As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to (AI)Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at (AJ)Gibeah of Saul. 35 And (AK)Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 15:3 Lit. strike
- 1 Samuel 15:18 exterminated
- 1 Samuel 15:19 plunder
- 1 Samuel 15:23 divination
1 Samuel 15
EasyEnglish Bible
Saul fights against the Amalekites
15 Samuel said to Saul, ‘The Lord sent me to anoint you as king to rule his people, the Israelites. So now listen to this message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It is time to punish the Amalekites! When the Israelites came out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them. 3 Now go and attack the Amalekites. Completely destroy everything that they have. Do not save anything. Kill the men and women, as well as their children and babies. Kill their cows, sheep, camels and donkeys.” ’
4 So Saul called his army to come together. The men met at Telaim and Saul counted them. There were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and another 10,000 men from Judah's tribe. 5 Saul and his army went to the city of the Amalekites. They waited in a small valley to attack their enemy. 6 Saul said to the Kenite people, ‘Go away from here! I will kill the Amalekites, but I do not want to kill you. You were kind to the Israelites when they came out from Egypt.’ So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.[a]
7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites. He fought them all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 Saul caught their king, Agag, while he was still alive. Saul's soldiers used their swords to kill all of Agag's people. 9 But Saul and the army let King Agag live. Also, they did not kill the best sheep, lambs, cows and fat calves. They kept all the good things and they did not agree to destroy them. But they killed everything that was weak and useless.
Samuel tells Saul God's message
10 Then the Lord gave this message to Samuel: 11 ‘I am sorry that I chose Saul to be king. He has turned away from me. He has not obeyed my commands.’
When Samuel heard that, he was very upset. He prayed aloud to the Lord all that night.
12 Samuel got up early the next morning. He went to meet Saul. Someone told Samuel, ‘Saul went to Carmel. He has put up a tall stone to give himself honour. Now he has left there and he has gone to Gilgal.’
13 Samuel went and he found Saul. Saul said to Samuel, ‘I pray that the Lord will bless you. I have obeyed the Lord's command.’ 14 But Samuel said, ‘If that is true, why can I hear the noise of sheep and cows?’
15 Saul answered, ‘My soldiers took them from the Amalekites. They saved the best sheep and cows. They will offer them to the Lord your God as sacrifices. We killed all the other animals.’
16 Samuel said to Saul, ‘Listen to me! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ Saul said, ‘Tell me.’
17 Samuel said, ‘At one time, you thought that you were not an important person. Now you have become the leader of all the tribes of Israel. The Lord chose you to be king of Israel. 18 He gave you a job to do. He told you, “Go and kill all those wicked Amalekites. Fight against them until you have destroyed them all.” 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Instead you have been greedy. You have hurried to take things for yourself. You have done something evil that does not please the Lord.’
20 Saul said to Samuel, ‘I did obey the Lord! I did the job that the Lord told me to do. I killed all the Amalekites and I brought back Agag, their king. 21 But the army did not kill all the sheep and cows that they took from the Amalekites. They brought the best animals to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’
22 But Samuel said, ‘What makes the Lord happy? Which is better? Is he more pleased when people offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to him? Or is he more pleased when people obey him? Listen! It is better to obey the Lord than to offer sacrifices to him. That is true even if you offer to him the best animals that you have.
23 You have turned against God. That is worse than using magic. You think that you know what is right better than God does. That is as bad as worshipping idols. You decided not to obey the Lord's command. Now the Lord has decided that you will not be king any longer.’
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘It is true, I have done a bad thing. I did not obey the Lord's command. I did not do what you told me to do. I was afraid of the army. I agreed to do what they wanted. 25 Please forgive my sin. Return with me so that I can worship the Lord.’
26 But Samuel said to Saul, ‘I will not return with you. You refused to obey the Lord's command. So now the Lord has decided that you will no longer be king of Israel.’
27 Samuel turned away to leave Saul. But Saul pulled the edge of Samuel's coat and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today. He has given it to a man who is better than you. 29 The great God who rules over Israel always does what he says he will do. He does not change his mind. People may change their minds, but he does not!’
30 Saul said again, ‘I have done a bad thing. But please show Israel's leaders and people that you respect me. Please return with me so that I can worship the Lord your God.’
31 So Samuel went back with Saul. Saul worshipped the Lord.
32 Then Samuel said, ‘Bring Agag, king of the Amalekites, to me.’
Agag came to Samuel. Agag was happy because he thought, ‘I am sure that now I will not have to die a painful death.’
33 But Samuel said to Agag, ‘You have used your sword to kill the children of many mothers. Now your own mother will have no children that are still alive.’ Then Samuel cut Agag into pieces at the Lord's altar in Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel left Gilgal and he went to his home in Ramah. Saul went to his home in Gibeah. 35 Until Samuel died, he never saw Saul again. Samuel was very sad about Saul. But the Lord was sorry that he had chosen Saul to be king of Israel.
Footnotes
- 15:6 The Kenite tribe probably lived among the Amalekites.
La Bible Du Semeur (The Bible of the Sower) Copyright © 1992, 1999 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.