Bible Strands
1 Samuel 15:11
“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all that night.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord addresses the prophet Samuel after Saul’s failure to execute the command to destroy the Amalekites. Samuel receives this message during the night before his morning confrontation with the king.
The words — נִחַמְתִּי (niḥam-tî) translates literally as “I regret” or “I am grieved,” and שׁוֹב (shav) means “he has turned back” or “turned away.” These terms describe a divine response to abandoned obedience rather than a change in eternal purpose.
The thread — This language of divine regret appears in Genesis 6:6 regarding human wickedness and 2 Samuel 24:16 where the Lord relents from judgment. The motif tracks God’s responsive grief over covenant rebellion rather than a shift in His sovereign will.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that appointed leadership carries binding obedience to specific commands. It asks the reader to treat divine instructions as non-negotiable and to understand that rejection of them severs the relationship between the ruler and the ruler’s source of authority.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Genesis 6:6 And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
- 1 Samuel 13:13 “You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.
- 2 Samuel 24:16 But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
- Psalms 119:136 My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.
- 1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
- 1 Samuel 15:9 Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.
- 1 Samuel 15:35 And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
- Psalms 36:3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
- Jeremiah 9:18 Let them come quickly and take up a lament over us, that our eyes may overflow with tears, and our eyelids may gush with water.
- Joshua 22:16 “This is what the whole congregation of the LORD says: ‘What is this breach of faith you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the LORD and building for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel against the LORD this day?