1 Samuel 15:8 (DRB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 15:6 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.

1 Samuel 15:7 And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which is over against Egypt.

1 Samuel 15:8 And he took Agag, the king of Amalec, alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword.

1 Samuel 15:9 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.

1 Samuel 15:10 And the word of the Lord came to Samuel,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "took", "agag", "king", "amalec", "alive", "common", "people", and "slew". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "took" and "agag", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila until..." into verse 9's "And Saul and the people spared Agag...", so "took" and "agag" 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 "took" and "agag" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.