Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Samuel 15:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Warns the Kenites away because of remembered kindness toward Israel.
Saul musters, warns Kenites away, and attacks Amalek
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9
The line at 1 Samuel 15:6 warns the Kenites away because of remembered kindness toward Israel. Its place in 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9 matters because Saul musters troops, warns Kenites away, attacks Amalek, kills the population in the report, captures Agag, and preserves valuable livestock while destroying what is unwanted.
Why This Verse Appears Here
At verse 15:6, the scene warns the Kenites away because of remembered kindness toward Israel. That movement matters to “Saul defeats Amalek but spares Agag and choice spoil” while the unit's uncertainty and ethical boundary continue to govern application.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: Saul musters troops, warns Kenites away, attacks Amalek, kills the population in the report, captures Agag.
- Developing movement or outcome: preserves valuable livestock while destroying what is unwanted.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
First Samuel 15:6 does not stand alone from 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9: it warns the Kenites away because of remembered kindness toward Israel. The campaign does not become humane because Kenites are warned or Agag is spared, and the text does not authorize conquest, looting, ethnic hatred, or graded human worth.
What Remains True
Warns the Kenites away because of remembered kindness toward Israel. Within 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: A responsible reader preserves both the unit's stated movement and its ethical limit. The campaign does not become humane because Kenites are warned or Agag is spared, and the text does not authorize conquest, looting, ethnic hatred, or graded human worth.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Samuel 15:6's precise role in 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9. Include the first historical horizon, material uncertainty, one person or cost a leader-centered reading could obscure, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9 — Saul defeats Amalek but spares Agag and choice spoilSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Totalizing war language, geography, later Amalekite appearances, and historical reconstruction remain contested; the narrative's focus is Saul's selective handling of the ban, not proof of exhaustive extermination.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology, with the two KJV-Hebrew versification shifts stated rather than silently offset.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Sam.xml, OSIS 15:4–15:9; KJV 20:42 spans Hebrew 20:42–21:1, KJV 21:1–15 maps to Hebrew 21:2–16, KJV 23:29 maps to Hebrew 24:1, and KJV 24:1–22 maps to Hebrew 24:2–23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: 1 Samuel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only the translator notes actually printed for these verses, used for lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and older-English controls.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Notes, 1 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 504–543, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 15:4–15:9
Open source ↗open access scholarly monograph
The Biblical Herem
Philip D. Stern
Brown Judaic Studies, 2020 digital edition
Supports: Philology and historical comparison for the ban, used without normalizing violence or proving dependence.
Exact location: Stern, The Biblical Herem (open digital edition, 2020), philology pp. 5–18, ancient comparisons pp. 19–88, Samuel–Kings and 1 Samuel 15 pp. 165–188, conclusion pp. 217–226
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
Species and Ethnicity in 1 Samuel 15
Suzanna Millar
Bible and Critical Theory 19.1-2, 2023
Supports: One intersectional reading of constructed and unstable ethnicity; modern categories are not treated as exact ancient identities.
Exact location: Millar, 'Species and Ethnicity in 1 Samuel 15,' Bible and Critical Theory 19.1–2 (2023), pp. 1–22, especially pp. 1–4
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source
Moshe Garsiel
The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10.5, 2010
Supports: One relatively early integrated/two-edition account of composition, structure, and historiographic value, retained as a contested model.
Exact location: Garsiel, JHS 10.5 (2010), pp. 1–42, named structural or composition discussion covering the movement that includes 1 Samuel 15:4–15:9
Open source ↗scholarly monograph frontmatter and table of contents
The Theology of the Book of Samuel
John Goldingay
Cambridge University Press, 2024
Supports: Only the publisher-visible book architecture and theological scope; the paywalled body is not treated as inspected.
Exact location: Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024), official frontmatter and TOC: 1 Samuel 13:1–20:42[21:1], pp. 77–110
Open source ↗