1 Samuel 15:22

Authorized King James Version (1611)

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.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֗ל הַחֵ֤פֶץ לַֽיהוָה֙ בְּעֹל֣וֹת וּזְבָחִ֔ים כִּשְׁמֹ֖עַ בְּק֣וֹל יְהוָ֑ה הִנֵּ֤ה שְׁמֹ֙עַ֙ מִזֶּ֣בַח ט֔וֹב לְהַקְשִׁ֖יב מֵחֵ֥לֶב אֵילֽ͏ִים׃

Transliteration

And wayyōʾmer Šᵊmûʾēl, haḥēpeṣ to YHWH in bᵊʿōlôṯ and ûzᵊḇāḥîm as kišmōaʿ in bᵊqôl YHWH? hinnēh šᵊmōaʿ from mizzéḇaḥ ṭôḇ, to lᵊhaqšîḇ from mēḥēleḇ ʾêlîm.

Grammar Details

• *wayyōʾmer*: waw-consecutive + qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - and he said
• *Šᵊmûʾēl*: proper noun, masculine - Samuel
• *haḥēpeṣ*: article + noun, masculine singular - the delight/pleasure
• *YHWH*: proper noun, divine name - Yahweh/LORD
• *bᵊʿōlôṯ*: preposition + noun, feminine plural - in burnt offerings
• *ûzᵊḇāḥîm*: waw-conjunctive + noun, masculine plural - and sacrifices
• *kišmōaʿ*: preposition + qal infinitive construct - as to obey/hear
• *bᵊqôl*: preposition + noun, masculine singular construct - to the voice of
• *hinnēh*: demonstrative particle - behold/look
• *šᵊmōaʿ*: qal infinitive absolute - to obey/hear
• *mizzéḇaḥ*: preposition + noun, masculine singular - than sacrifice
• *ṭôḇ*: adjective, masculine singular - good/better
• *lᵊhaqšîḇ*: preposition + hiphil infinitive construct - to heed/pay attention
• *mēḥēleḇ*: preposition + noun, masculine singular construct - than fat of
• *ʾêlîm*: noun, masculine plural - rams

Word Meanings

• *haḥēpeṣ*: delight/pleasure/desire
• *bᵊʿōlôṯ*: in burnt offerings/whole offerings
• *ûzᵊḇāḥîm*: and sacrifices/offerings
• *kišmōaʿ*: as obeying/listening to
• *hinnēh*: behold/look/see
• *šᵊmōaʿ*: to obey/listen
• *mizzéḇaḥ*: than sacrifice/offering
• *ṭôḇ*: good/better/pleasing
• *lᵊhaqšîḇ*: to heed/pay attention/listen attentively
• *mēḥēleḇ*: than fat of/best portions of
• *ʾêlîm*: rams/male sheep

Referenced Verses

• Hos 6:6 : 6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
• Ps 51:16-17 : 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give [it]: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
• Matt 9:13 : 13 ‹But go ye and learn what› [that] ‹meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.›
• Prov 21:3 : 3 ¶ To do justice and judgment [is] more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
• Mark 12:33 : 33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
• Amos 5:21-24 : 21 ¶ I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
• Mic 6:6-8 : 6 ¶ Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, [and] bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul? 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
• Jer 7:22-23 : 22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: 23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
• Matt 12:7 : 7 ‹But if ye had known what› [this] ‹meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.›
• Ps 40:6-8 : 6 ¶ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [it is] written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart.
• Ps 50:8-9 : 8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, [to have been] continually before me. 9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, [nor] he goats out of thy folds.
• Heb 10:4-9 : 4 For [it is] not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and [sacrifices] for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 ¶ Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and [offering] for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure [therein]; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].
• Eccl 5:1 : 1 ¶ Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
• Isa 1:11-17 : 11 To what purpose [is] the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; [it is] iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear [them]. 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. 16 ¶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
• Matt 23:23 : 23 ‹Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier› [matters] ‹of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.›
• Jer 26:13 : 13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
• Jer 11:7 : 7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day [that] I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, [even] unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
• Matt 5:24 : 24 ‹Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.›
• Exod 19:5 : 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is] mine:
• Jer 11:4 : 4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day [that] I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God: