¹⁷Samuel continued, “Although you once considered yourself unimportant,^s haven’t you become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel ¹⁸and then sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.’ ¹⁹So why didn’t you obey the Lord? Why did you rush on the plunder^t and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?”

²⁰“But I did obey the Lord!” Saul answered.^A “I went on the mission the Lord gave me: I brought back King Agag of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹The troops took sheep, goats, and cattle from the plunder—the best of what was set apart for destruction—to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”^u

²²Then Samuel said:

Does the Lord^v take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as in obeying the Lord?

Look: to obey is better than sacrifice,

to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.^w

²³For rebellion is like the sin of divination,^x

and defiance is like wickedness^y and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has rejected you as king.^z

²⁴Saul answered Samuel, “I have sinned.^aa I have transgressed the Lord’s command^ab and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them.

Read in Logos

1 Samuel 15:22: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”

Footnotes

A answered Samuel

Cross references

s 1Sm 9:21
t 1Sm 14:32
u Ex 32:22–23
v Ps 40:6–8; 51:16–17; Is 1:11–15; Mc 6:6–8
w Heb 10:5–7
x Dt 18:10
y Gn 31:19,34
z 1Sm 8:7
aa Nm 22:34; 2Sm 12:13; Ps 51:3–4
ab Pr 29:25; Is 51:12–13