1 Samuel 15:1–24

^*Samuel also said unto Saul, ^aThe Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. ²Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, ^bhow he ^claid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. ³Now go and smite Amalek, and ^dutterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay ^eboth man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. ⁴And Saul ^fgathered the people together, and numbered them in ^gTelaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and ^||laid wait in the valley. ⁶And Saul said unto ^hthe Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ⁱye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. ⁷And ^jSaul smote the Amalekites from ^kHavilah until thou comest to ^lShur, that is over against Egypt. ⁸And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed ^mall the people with the edge of the sword. ⁹But Saul and the people ⁿspared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and ^||of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

¹⁰Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, ^11oIt repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is ^pturned back from following me, ^qand hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. ¹²And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to ^rCarmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. ¹³And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, ^sBlessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. ¹⁴And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? ¹⁵And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: ^tfor the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. ¹⁶Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. ¹⁷And Samuel said, ^uWhen thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? ¹⁸And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until ^†they be consumed. ¹⁹Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst ^wfly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? ²⁰And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, ^xI have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ^21yBut the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of ^dthe things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. ²²And Samuel said,

^zHath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

As in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, ^ato obey is better than sacrifice,

And to hearken than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is as the sin of ^†witchcraft,

And stubbornness is as iniquity and ^bidolatry.

Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord,

^cHe hath also rejected thee from being king.

²⁴And Saul said unto Samuel, ^dI have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I ^efeared the people, and obeyed their voice.