1st Samuel Chapter 15 verse 5 Holy Bible
And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
read chapter 15 in ASV
And Saul came to the town of Amalek, and took up his position in the valley secretly.
read chapter 15 in BBE
And Saul came to the city of the Amalekites, and set an ambush in the valley.
read chapter 15 in DARBY
And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
read chapter 15 in KJV
And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
read chapter 15 in WBT
Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
read chapter 15 in WEB
And Saul cometh in unto a city of Amalek, and layeth wait in a valley;
read chapter 15 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - A city of Amalek. More probably Ir-Amalek, the name of their one town. Laid wait. Many commentators follow the Syriac in rendering this verb contended, strove; others, like the A.V., with the Septuagint and Vulgate, regard it as a contracted form of a verb signifying to lay an ambuscade. It is not, however, a valley, but a "torrent bed," which was more fit for an ambush than for a strife or dispute. Rashi explains the verb as signifying "contended with himself," and quotes from the Talmud an opinion that when Saul reached the torrent he called to mind the command in Deuteronomy 21:4, to slay a heifer at a torrent in expiation of a murder, and had misgivings whether a slaughter so indiscriminate as that on which he was engaged could be justified. The law of the Herem was soon softened down, but we find David in several of his wars guilty of fearful cruelty. The translation of the A.V. is the more probable.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) A city of Amalek.--Better rendered, The city of Amalek: no doubt, their principal place of arms.And laid wait in the valley.--Better, in a torrent bed, then dry (Arabic, "Wady"). There is a strange tradition in the Talmud that Saul's mind misgave him when he came to this "torrent bed;" thus he called to mind the command of Deuteronomy 21:4 to slay an heifer at a torrent in expiation of a murder, and determined not to carry out the stern charge of Samuel, but to spare rather than to slay.
