17 And Samuel said, s“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? tWhy did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, u“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 vBut the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said,

w“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, xto obey is better than sacrifice,

and to listen than the fat of rams.

23  For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

and presumption is as iniquity and yidolatry.

Because zyou have rejected the word of the Lord,

ahe has also rejected you from being king.”

24 Saul said to Samuel, b“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.