What Does 1 Samuel 15:22 Mean in the King James?

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 15:22 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew uses the same verb for hearing in both places English says “obey,” making responsive listening the substance that sacrifice cannot substitute for.

THE MEANING

God’s voice reaches the reader as something to be heard and answered. The verse says that sacrificial action cannot stand in for this response; attentive hearing carries greater weight than abundance.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse dissolves the belief that costly religious acts can compensate for refusing God’s voice.

THE ROOT

שְׁמֹעַ

shamoa

GROWS FROM

שמע

shama

Hear, listen, attend; in context, heed and respond.

English labels both occurrences as “obey,” while Hebrew repeats ⁨שְׁמֹעַ⁩ (shamoa, hearing), so obedience is pictured as hearing that reaches response. The root also opens into ⁨שְׁמַע⁩ (shema, hear and respond) and ⁨שְׁמוּעָה⁩ (shemuah, a report or what is heard): the same seed links receiving a voice to what becomes known. Samuel (⁨שְׁמוּאֵל⁩, Shemuʾel, traditionally understood as “God has heard”) echoes that listening field in the speaker’s name.

ALSO GROWS

shema: Hear; listen and respond.

שְׁמַע

The same root begins Deuteronomy’s call to Israel, showing that hearing is a whole relation, not a passive step before action.

shemuah: Report, news; something heard.

שְׁמוּעָה

This branch names what reaches someone as a report, keeping the root’s sense centered on receiving what is heard.

shamata: You heard; by context, you heeded or obeyed.

שָׁמַעְתָּ

Genesis 22:18 uses this form for “obeyed my voice,” echoing the same voice-and-hearing relation.

THE PATTERN

Religious acts have weight when they arise from hearing that becomes response; they cannot substitute for that response.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deuteronomy 6:4 · KJVThe same Hebrew verb opens this declaration, placing responsive hearing at the center of relation to God.

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Genesis 22:18 · KJVThe same root names hearing God’s voice as the response that matters.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James 1:22 · KJVThe verse makes the same distinction between hearing that reaches action and hearing left alone.

THE THREAD

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Genesis 22:18 · KJV

Here “obeyed” translates ⁨שָׁמַעְתָּ⁩ (shamata, you heard or obeyed), from the same root ⁨שמע⁩ (shama, hear and respond) as the repeated word in 1 Samuel 15:22. The phrase “my voice” makes the connection especially clear: hearing is the response at issue in both verses.

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