What Does 1 Samuel 15:20 Mean?
Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have heard and responded to the voice of the LORD, and I have gone the road the LORD sent me on. I have brought Agag, king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb Saul uses for “obeyed” means hearing, so his claim of listening sits beside the king he says he brought back.
THE MEANING
You hear a confident claim of obedience alongside the details that qualify it: Saul says he follows the LORD’s sending, then says he brings Agag the king. The profession and its limit occupy the same sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that saying “I obeyed” settles what obedience contains; the claim itself can preserve the detail that complicates it.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַעְתִּי
shamati
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
To hear, listen, and receive responsively.
“heard and responded to” in this verse is shamati. The word translated “obeyed” is literally a form of “I heard.” This root joins listening with response, so the details that follow make Saul’s claim of hearing visible and testable.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; listen and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar imperative carries the same root’s sense of hearing that calls for a response.
shemuah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch shows the root extending from hearing to the message received, linking Saul’s claim to the voice he says he heard.
שְׁלָחַנִי
shelachani
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
To send forth, release, or let go.
The verb frames Saul as moving under a commission from the LORD. Its root also carries the sense of release, making the contrast with the next detail sharp: the one sent on a way says he brings Agag the king.
ALSO GROWS
shiloach: Shiloach, “sent”; the name of a pool.
שִׁלֹחַ
The name carries the sending root into the image of sent waters, echoing the sense of movement in the LORD’s sending.
shilluach: Sending away or release.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch makes the root’s release aspect visible beside Saul’s statement that he brings Agag.
הֶחֱרַמְתִּי
hecheramti
GROWS FROM
חרם
charam
To place under a ban; devote wholly.
“devoted the Amalekites to destruction” in this verse is hecheramti. The root behind “utterly destroyed” can also describe placing something under a ban, wholly devoted. Its force makes Saul’s sweeping claim sit starkly beside the same sentence’s report that he brings Agag the king.
ALSO GROWS
cherem: A ban; something devoted wholly.
חֵרֶם
This noun reveals the weight carried by Saul’s claim that Amalek is wholly placed under the ban.
hecherim: He devoted something under the ban.
הֶחֱרִים
This verb form shows the root as an enacted act of devotion, sharpening the absolute force of Saul’s claim.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes hearing visible in the response that follows the claim.
And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in rising offerings and slaughtered offerings as much as in hearing and responding to the voice of the LORD? Behold, hearing and responding is better than a slaughtered offering; to prick the ear is better than the fat of rams.Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in rising offerings and slaughtered offerings as much as in hearing and responding to the voice of the LORD? Behold, hearing and responding is better than a slaughtered offering; to prick the ear is better than the fat of rams.Samuel’s answer repeats “obeying the voice of the LORD,” using the same שׁמע root behind Saul’s “I have obeyed.” The pairing opens hearing into something visible: the response is already held inside the word.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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