Liber I Samuelis, 15

1. et dixit Samuhel ad Saul me misit Dominus ut unguerem te in regem super populum ejus Israël nunc ergo audi vocem Domini

1. And Samuel said to Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over his People Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the Lord:

2. hæc dicit Dominus exercituum recensui quæcumque fecit Amalech Israheli quomodo restitit ei in via cum ascenderet de Ægypto

2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have reckoned up all that Amalec hath done to Israel: I how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt.

3. nunc igitur vade et percute Amalech et demolire universa ejus non parcas ei sed interfice a viro usque ad mulierem et parvulum atque lactantem bovem et ovem camelum et asinum

3. Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath: spare him not, nor covet any thing that is his: but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

4. præcepit itaque Saul populo et recensuit eos quasi agnos ducenta milia peditum et decem milia virorum Juda

4. So Saul commanded the people, and numbered them as lambs: two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand of the men of Juda.

5. cumque venisset Saul usque ad civitatem Amalech tetendit insidias in torrente

5. And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in the torrent.

6. dixitque Saul Cineo abite recedite atque descendite ab Amalech ne forte involvam te cum eo tu enim fecisti misericordiam cum omnibus filiis Israël cum ascenderent de Ægypto et recessit Cineus de medio Amalech

6. And Saul said to the Cinite: Go, depart and get ye down from Amalec: lest I destroy thee with him. For thou hast shewn kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the Cinite departed from the midst of Amalec.

7. percussitque Saul Amalech ab Evila donec venias Sur quæ est e regione Ægypti

7. And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which is over against Egypt.

8. et adprehendit Agag regem Amalech vivum omne autem vulgus interfecit in ore gladii

8. And he took Agag the king of Amalec alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword.

9. et pepercit Saul et populus Agag et optimis gregibus ovium et armentorum et vestibus et arietibus et universis quæ pulchra erant nec voluerunt disperdere ea quicquid vero vile fuit et reprobum hoc demoliti sunt

9. And Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the flocks of sheep and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them: but every thing that was vile and good for nothing, that they destroyed.

10. factum est autem verbum Domini ad Samuhel dicens

10. And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying:

11. pænitet me quod constituerim Saul regem quia dereliquit me et verba mea opere non implevit contristatusque est Samuhel et clamavit ad Dominum tota nocte

11. It repenteth me that I have made Saul king: for he hath forsaken me, and hath not executed my commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night.

12. cumque de nocte surrexisset Samuhel ut iret ad Saul mane nuntiatum est Samuheli eo quod venisset Saul in Carmelum et erexisset sibi fornicem triumphalem et reversus transisset descendissetque in Galgala venit ergo Samuhel ad Saul et

12. And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, that Saul was come to Carmel, and had erected for himself a triumphant arch, and returning had passed on, and gone down to Galgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord out of the choicest of the spoils which he had brought from Amalec.

13. dixit ei Saul benedictus tu Domino implevi verbum Domini

13. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.

14. dixitque Samuhel et quæ est hæc vox gregum quæ resonat in auribus meis et armentorum quam ego audio

14. And Samuel said: What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear?

15. et ait Saul de Amalech adduxerunt ea pepercit enim populus melioribus ovibus et armentis ut immolarentur Domino Deo tuo reliqua vero occidimus

15. And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain.

16. dixit autem Samuhel ad Saul sine me et indicabo tibi quæ locutus sit Dominus ad me nocte dixitque ei loquere

16. And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said to him: Speak.

17. et ait Samuhel nonne cum parvulus esses in oculis tuis caput in tribubus Israël factus es unxitque te Dominus regem super Israël

17. And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel.

18. et misit te Dominus in via et ait vade et interfice peccatores Amalech et pugnabis contra eos usque ad internicionem eorum

18. And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: Go, and kill the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them.

19. quare ergo non audisti vocem Domini sed versus ad prædam es et fecisti malum in oculis Domini

19. Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord: but hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord.

20. et ait Saul ad Samuhelem immo audivi vocem Domini et ambulavi in via per quam misit me Dominus et adduxi Agag regem Amalech et Amalech interfeci

20. And Saul said to Samuel: Yea I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain.

21. tulit autem populus de præda oves et boves primitias eorum quæ cæsa sunt ut immolet Domino Deo suo in Galgalis

21. But the people took of the spoils sheep and oxen, as the firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal.

22. et ait Samuhel numquid vult Dominus holocausta aut victimas et non potius ut obœdiatur voci Domini melior est enim obœdientia quam victimæ et auscultare magis quam offerre adipem arietum

22. And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams.

23. quoniam quasi peccatum ariolandi est repugnare et quasi scelus idolatriæ nolle adquiescere pro eo ergo quod abiecisti sermonem Domini abiecit te ne sis rex

23. Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king.

24. dixitque Saul ad Samuhel peccavi quia prævaricatus sum sermonem Domini et verba tua timens populum et obœdiens voci eorum

24. And Saul said to Samuel: I have sinned because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, fearing the people, and obeying their voice.

25. sed nunc porta quæso peccatum meum et revertere mecum ut adorem Dominum

25. But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord.

26. et ait Samuhel ad Saul non revertar tecum quia projecisti sermonem Domini et projecit te Dominus ne sis rex super Israël

26. And Samuel said to Saul: I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

27. et conversus est Samuhel ut abiret ille autem adprehendit summitatem pallii ejus quæ et scissa est

27. And Samuel turned about to go away: but he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

28. et ait ad eum Samuhel scidit Dominus regnum Israël a te hodie et tradidit illud proximo tuo meliori te

28. And Samuel said to him: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbour who is better than thee.

29. porro Triumphator in Israël non parcet et pænitudine non flectetur neque enim homo est ut agat pænitentiam

29. But the triumpher in Israel will riot spare, and will not be moved to repentance: for he is not a mail that he should repent.

30. at ille ait peccavi sed nunc honora me coram senibus populi mei et coram Israël et revertere mecum ut adorem Dominum Deum tuum

30. Then he said: I have sinned: yet honour me now before the ancients of my people, and before Israel, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord thy God.

31. reversus ergo Samuhel secutus est Saulem et adoravit Saul Dominum

31. So Samuel turned again after Saul: and Saul adored the Lord.

32. dixitque Samuhel adducite ad me Agag regem Amalech et oblatus est ei Agag pinguissimus et dixit Agag sicine separat amara mors

32. And Samuel said: Bring hitherto me Agag the king of Amalec. And Agag was presented to him very fat, and trembling. And Agag said: Doth bitter death separate in this manner?

33. et ait Samuhel sicut fecit absque liberis mulieres gladius tuus sic absque liberis erit inter mulieres mater tua et in frusta concidit Samuhel Agag coram Domino in Galgalis

33. And Samuel said: As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed him in pieces before the Lord in Galgal.

34. abiit autem Samuhel in Ramatha Saul vero ascendit in domum suam in Gabaath

34. And Samuel departed to Ramatha: but Saul went up to his house in Gabaa.

35. et non vidit Samuhel ultra Saul usque ad diem mortis suæ verumtamen lugebat Samuhel Saul quoniam Dominum pænitebat quod constituisset regem Saul super Israël

35. And Samuel saw Saul no more till the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, because the Lord repented that he had made him king over Israel.