1 Samuel 15:19 (DBY)

Passage

Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, but didst fall upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of Jehovah?

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 15:17 And Samuel said, Was it not when thou wast little in thine eyes that thou [becamest] the head of the tribes of Israel, and Jehovah anointed thee king over Israel?

1 Samuel 15:18 And Jehovah sent thee on a way and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

1 Samuel 15:19 Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, but didst fall upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of Jehovah?

1 Samuel 15:20 And Saul said to Samuel, I have indeed hearkened to the voice of Jehovah, and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 15:21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Jehovah thy God in Gilgal.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "didst", "thou", "hearken", "voice", "jehovah", "fall", and "upon". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "didst" and "thou", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 18's "And Jehovah sent thee on a way..." into verse 20's "And Saul said to Samuel I have...", so "didst" and "thou" belong inside that flow. In 1 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "didst" and "thou" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.