8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed mall the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But 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.

10 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11 oIt 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. 12 And 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. 13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, sBlessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. 14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15 And 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. 16 Then 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. 17 And 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? 18 And 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. 19 Wherefore 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? 20 And 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. 21 yBut 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. 22 And 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.

23  For 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.