1 Samuel 15

¹ Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now then, listen to the words of the LORD.

² This is what the LORD of Hosts says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel, ambushing them on the way as they came up from Egypt.

³ Now go, attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"

⁴ So Saul summoned the troops and mustered them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and ten thousand men of Judah.

⁵ Saul went to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.

⁶ Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, leave the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

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

⁸ He captured Agag king of the Amalekites alive, but all the people he devoted to destruction with the sword.

⁹ But Saul and the troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and everything good. These they were unwilling to destroy, but everything that was worthless and weak they devoted to destruction.

¹⁰ Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel:

¹¹ "I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my commands." Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all night.

¹² Early in the morning Samuel got up to meet Saul, but he was told, "Saul went to Carmel, and there he set up a monument in his own honor; then he turned and went on down to Gilgal."

¹³ When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's command."

¹⁴ But Samuel said, "Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and this lowing of cattle that I hear?"

¹⁵ Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction."

¹⁶ "Stop!" Samuel said to Saul. "Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." "Tell me," Saul replied.

¹⁷ Samuel said, "Though you were small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel,

¹⁸ and the LORD sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go, devote to destruction those sinners, the Amalekites; wage war against them until they are wiped out.'

¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do what is evil in the LORD's eyes?"

²⁰ "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said to Samuel. "I went on the mission the LORD sent me on. I brought back Agag king of Amalek, and I devoted the Amalekites to destruction.

²¹ The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal."

²² But Samuel said, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I violated the LORD's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people, so I gave in to them.

²⁵ Now please forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD."

²⁶ But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel."

²⁷ As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore.

²⁸ Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and given it to a neighbor of yours, one better than you.

²⁹ And the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind."

³⁰ Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please, honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God."

³¹ So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

³² Then Samuel said, "Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites." Agag came to him confidently, thinking, "Surely the bitterness of death is past."

³³ But Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." And Samuel cut Agag down before the LORD at Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel left for Ramah, and Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵ Samuel never went to see Saul again until the day he died, though he mourned for him. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.