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said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel; so listen now to the words of the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord of Hosts said, ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they opposed them as they came out of Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy everything they have. Do not spare them, but put to death both men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys’.”
4 So Saul summoned the troops and assembled them at Talaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah. 5 Saul went to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi. 6 Then he warned the Kenites, “Go! Get away from among the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.
7 Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is near Egypt. 8 He captured Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and totally destroyed all the people with the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fatted calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. These they were unwilling to destroy, but anything else they considered inferior or of little worth they completely destroyed.
10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from Me and has not carried out My commands.” Samuel was distressed, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but Samuel was told, “Saul went to Carmel, where he has set up a monument for himself. Then he left from there and has gone down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the Lord’s command.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of oxen that I hear?”
15 Saul answered, “The troops have brought them from the Amalekites, for they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, “Although you once considered yourself small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said: ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until they are completely destroyed’. 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord gave me: I brought back Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites. 21 The troops merely took some sheep and cattle from the plunder—the best of the things devoted to destruction—to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel replied,
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and in sacrifices,
as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He has also rejected you from being king.”
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the command of the Lord and your words. I was afraid of the people, so I gave in to them. 25 Now please pardon my sin, I beg you, and come back with me so that I can worship the Lord.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27 When Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and He has given to a neighbour of yours—someone who is better than you. 29 Furthermore, the Strength of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man, that He should change his mind.”
30 But Saul pleaded: “I have sinned. But please honour me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”
Agag came to him confidently, for he was thinking to himself, “Surely the bitterness of death has passed.”
33 But Samuel said,
“As your sword has made women childless,
so will your mother be childless among women.”
And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.
35 Until the day of his death, Samuel did not see Saul again, but Samuel mourned for Saul. And the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.