Agag
아각
Named at 1 Samuel 15:8 as the king of the Amalekites. At 15:7–9 Saul strikes the Amalekites and takes Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and Saul and the people spare Agag and the best of the sheep and of the cattle; at 15:20 Saul tells Samuel that he has brought Agag the king of Amalek. At 15:32–33 Samuel says, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!” Agag comes to him cheerfully and says, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” Samuel says, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cuts Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
Direct relationships 2
Open in the full graphCollected relationship evidence
Source-backed narrative relations; not independent historical verification. Legacy dates and coordinates are outside this review.
Collection & rightsSource evidence (3)
AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.
- 1SA 15:4–9, engwebp
4Saul summoned the people, and counted them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.
5Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.
6Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is before Egypt.
8He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
- 1SA 15:12–23, engwebp
12Samuel 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, turned, passed on, and went down to Gilgal.”
13Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “You are blessed by the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”
14Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?”
15Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to the LORD your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”
16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” He said to him, “Say on.”
17Samuel said, “Though you were little in your own sight, weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel;
18and the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
19Why then didn’t you obey the LORD’s voice, but took the plunder, and did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight?”
20Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the LORD’s voice, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21But the people took of the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
22Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the LORD’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the LORD’s word, he has also rejected you from being king.”
- 1SA 15:32–33, engwebp
32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!” Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
AI-assisted, human review pending, 2026-09-26
Machine comparison on 2026-10-07: the wording raised none of the 3 rules against the passages this entry cites. No person has read it.
Unresolved interpretation: Haman the Agagite and Agag
- 1 Samuel 15:7–8 says, “Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is before Egypt. He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.”
Source evidence (1)
AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.
- 1SA 15:4–9, engwebp
4Saul summoned the people, and counted them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.
5Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.
6Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is before Egypt.
8He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
- 1SA 15:4–9, engwebp
- Esther 3:1 says, “After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.”
Source evidence (1)
AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.
- EST 3:1–6, engwebp
1After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.
2All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage.
3Then the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?”
4Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn’t listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath.
6But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.
- EST 3:1–6, engwebp
- Esther 8:3 says, “Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews”, and among her words at 8:5 is, “let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.”
Source evidence (1)
AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.
- EST 8:3–6, engwebp
3Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews.
4Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king.
5She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seems right to the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.
6For how can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my relatives?”
- EST 8:3–6, engwebp
1 Samuel 15:7–8 says that Saul struck the Amalekites and took “Agag the king of the Amalekites” alive. Esther 3:1 names “Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite” and 8:5 “Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite” (the Korean Revised Version at both: 아각 사람 함므다다의 아들 하만), and 8:3 “Haman the Agagite” (the Korean Revised Version: 아각 사람 하만). The text does not say what “the Agagite” names, whether it means Agag’s people, or whether at 3:1 and 8:5 the word goes with Haman or with Hammedatha; these verses of Esther do not name the Amalekites. This collection gives Agag no evidence from Esther, and decides none of it.
All 2 relationships: AI-assisted, human review pending
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Took part in (2) — Saul strikes the Amalekites, and Saul and the people spare Agag and the best, Samuel has Agag brought to him and cuts him in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal
A relationship with an event rests on the passages the event cites: each event’s page has them.
Verses tagged with this entry
Names in the World English Bible text that carry this entry’s tag. They are carried over from the tags on the Korean Revised Version, which are matched by name inside chapters that already have collected evidence, and a verse where the English says “he” carries none. All await human review. They are a separate list from the source passages above. An empty list does not mean the entry is absent from the text.
He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the LORD’s voice, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!” Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
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[Bibliadatum entry report] Entry: Agag (person-agag) Address: https://bibliadatum.org/en/wiki/person/agag Current wording: Named at 1 Samuel 15:8 as the king of the Amalekites. At 15:7–9 Saul strikes the Amalekites and takes Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and Saul and the people spare Agag and the best of the sheep and of the cattle; at 15:20 Saul tells Samuel that he has brought Agag the king of Amalek. At 15:32–33 Samuel says, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!” Agag comes to him cheerfully and says, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” Samuel says, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cuts Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. Cited evidence: 1SA 15:4–9, engwebp / 1SA 15:12–23, engwebp / 1SA 15:32–33, engwebp Review state: ai-assisted / human-review-pending What looks wrong: (not written yet) --- This collection records what the text says and does not settle interpretation. A report about a reading that divides opinion may be registered as an unresolved issue rather than corrected.