Agag came unto him delicately - The Septuagint have τρεμων, trembling; the original, מעדנת maadannoth, delicacies; probably איש ish, man, understood; a man of delights, a pleasure-taker: the Vulgate, pinguissimus et tremens, "very fat and trembling."
Surely the bitterness of death is past - Almost all the versions render this differently from ours. Surely death is bitter, is their general sense; and this seems to be the true meaning.
Delicately - This phrase is very obscure. The meaning of the word so rendered is “dainties, delights” Genesis 49:20; Proverbs 29:17; Lamentations 4:5, which hardly gives a tolerable sense here. Some understand it “fawningly, flatteringly,” with a view of appeasing Samuel. (Others alter the reading, and translate “in bonds.”)
Surely the bitterness - Agag hopes that his life will be spared, and so expresses his confident belief that the bitterness of death is over.