1 Samuel 15:26 (WEB)

Passage

Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected Yahweh’s word, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 15:24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

1 Samuel 15:25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh.”

1 Samuel 15:26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected Yahweh’s word, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned around to go away, Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore.

1 Samuel 15:28 Samuel said to him, “Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 25's "Now therefore please pardon my sin and..." into verse 27's "As Samuel turned around to go away...", so "samuel" and "said" 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 "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.