Then said Samuel, Bring you here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him cautiously. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Trembling. Hebrew, "and Agag came to him delicately. "Septuagint, "trembling "(Haydock) or walking with a soft step, or "with bands or chains "mahadannoth. See Pagnin. (Menochius)
Some think that he presented himself boldly, like a king, fearing nothing. (Vatable)
Manner. Hebrew, "Surely the bitterness of death is past. "I have obtained pardon from Saul. But the sense of the Vulgate seems preferable, as he must have perceived, from the looks of the prophet, that death was hanging over him. Hence others translate, "is pouring upon me "instead of, is past. Septuagint, "Is death thus bitter? "Chaldean, "I pray my Lord: the bitterness of death. "(Haydock)
O death! how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions, Ecclesiasticus xli. 1. So Aristotle (Nicom. iii. 6.) says, "Death is most terrible, (peras gar) for it is a passage "or separation, from all the things which could attach a man to this world. (Calmet)
This catastrophe of Agag and Saul, had been long before predicted, Numbers xxiv. 7. (Haydock)