Samuel’s words seem to have a prophetic and proverbial style, and most scholars consider verses 22-23 to be Hebrew poetry. For this reason many modern translations place verses 22-23 in poetic form and divide the lines as in Revised Standard Version. Some translations, however, use poetic form only for verse 22 (so Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente) and others do not use poetic form at all (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version). Some combine the parallel lines in these verses into a single statement (so Good News Translation). Translators will have to decide which form best expresses the meaning in the receptor language.

Samuel’s words are not a categorical rejection of offerings and sacrifices; they are rather a call for the supreme importance of obedience to God (for similar thoughts, see Isa 1.10-11; Jer 6.20; 7.21-26; Hos 6.6; Amos 5.21-24; Micah 6.6-8).

The question in the first half of this verse is rhetorical. Regarding burnt offerings see the comments on 7.9.

In obeying … to obey: literally “in hearing … to hear.”

Obeying the voice: see the comments on verse 19.

The second half of this verse begins with the interjection Behold. Many translations leave this word untranslated, but in some languages the force of the interjection may be expressed by saying something like “Surely” (New Revised Standard Version) or “Truly” (New Jerusalem Bible).

The second half of this verse is elliptical, leaving unstated a number of things. The sense is “Surely, to obey God is better than to offer sacrifices while not obeying God. And to listen to what God wants us to do is more important than offering God sacrifices consisting of the fat of male sheep while not paying attention to what God says to us.”

Rams were sacrificed for peace offerings (Lev 1.10-14) and for guilt offerings (Lev 5.14-16). This is the only place where this Hebrew term is used in the books of Samuel. A ram is a male sheep.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .