1 Samuel 15

¹Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord

²Thus says the Lord

³Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”

⁴So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.

⁵And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.

⁶Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get 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.

⁷And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

⁸He also took Agag 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, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

¹⁰Now the word of the Lord

¹¹“I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord

¹²So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.”

¹³Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord

¹⁴But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”

¹⁵And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord

¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord And he said to him, “Speak on.”

¹⁷So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord

¹⁸Now the Lord

¹⁹Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord

²⁰And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord

²¹But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord

²²So Samuel said: “Has the Lord As in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord He also has rejected you from being king.”

²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord

²⁵Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord

²⁶But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord

²⁷And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.

²⁸So Samuel said to him, “The Lord

²⁹And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”

³⁰Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord

³¹So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord

³²Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

³³But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord

³⁴Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord