1 Samuel 15:22

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.

Douay-Rheims 1899

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

21But 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.

23Because 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.

Read all of 1 Samuel 15

Cross References

Exodus 19:5If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine.

Psalms 40:6Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God : and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared and I have spoken they are multiplied above number.

Psalms 51:16Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice.

Ecclesiastes 5:1Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

Jeremiah 7:22For I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Jeremiah 11:7For protesting I conjured your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt even to this day: rising early I conjured them, and said: Hearken ye to my voice:

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 15:11-24

Samuel Reproves Saul; Saul Rejected of God. ( b. c. 1065.) 10 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. 12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 1 Samuel 15:22