1 Samuel 15

Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now listen to the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I have taken account of what Amalek did to Israel, how they opposed Israel on the way up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction all that belongs to him. Do not spare him, but put to death men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” Saul summoned the people and mustered them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, turn aside and leave the Amalekites, lest I sweep you away with them. You showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among Amalek. Saul struck Amalek from Havilah as far as Shur, which is opposite Egypt. He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, and he devoted all the people to destruction by the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fattened animals, the rams, and all that was good. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but everything despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. The word of the LORD came to Samuel: “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my words.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all night. Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul. Samuel was told, “Saul came to Carmel and set up a monument for himself. Then he turned, went on, and went down to Gilgal.” Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “May you be blessed by the LORD! I have carried out the word of the LORD.” Samuel said, “Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and this lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul said, “They brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God. The rest we devoted to destruction.” Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” He said to him, “Speak.” Samuel said, “Though you are small in your own eyes, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. The LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and devote the sinners, Amalek, to destruction. Fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why did you not listen to the LORD’s voice? You swooped upon the spoil and did what was evil in the LORD’s eyes.” Saul said to Samuel, “I did listen to the LORD’s voice! I went on the mission the LORD sent me on. I brought Agag king of Amalek, and I devoted Amalek to destruction. But the people took sheep and cattle from the spoil, the best of what was devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal.” Samuel said,
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD’s voice?
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness like iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the LORD’s command and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. Now please forgive my sin and return with me, so that I may worship the LORD.” Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of Samuel’s robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. The Glory of Israel will not lie or relent, for he is not a human being, that he should relent.” He said, “I have sinned. Yet please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.” Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD. Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of Amalek to me.” Agag came to him at ease, and Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death has passed.” Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD at Gilgal. Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his home at Gibeah of Saul. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, though Samuel mourned for Saul. The LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

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