1 Samuel 15:16–24

¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, and let me tell you what Yahweh spoke to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!”

¹⁷And Samuel said, “Is it not true, ^athough you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Yahweh anointed you king over Israel,

¹⁸and Yahweh sent you on a ¹mission and said, ‘^aGo and devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’

¹⁹“Why then did you not ¹obey the voice of Yahweh, ^abut rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh?”

²⁰Then Saul said to Samuel, “^aI did ¹obey the voice of Yahweh and went on the way on which Yahweh sent me and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek and have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.

²¹“But ^athe people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal.”

²²And Samuel said,

“^aHas Yahweh as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

As in obeying the voice of Yahweh?

Behold, ^bto obey is better than sacrifice,

And to heed than the fat of rams.

²³“For rebellion is as the sin of ^adivination,

And insubordination is as ^bwickedness and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh,

^cHe has also rejected you from being king.”

²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “^aI have sinned; ^bI have indeed trespassed against the ¹command of Yahweh and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.