1 Samuel 15:13 (WEB)

Passage

Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “You are blessed by Yahweh! I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.”

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 15:11 “It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.

1 Samuel 15:12 Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and Samuel was told, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.”

1 Samuel 15:13 Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “You are blessed by Yahweh! I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.”

1 Samuel 15:14 Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?”

1 Samuel 15:15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "samuel", "came", "saul", "said", "blessed", "yahweh", and "performed". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "samuel" and "came", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "Samuel rose early to meet Saul in..." into verse 14's "Samuel said Then what does this bleating...", so "samuel" and "came" 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 "samuel" and "came" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.