1 Samuel 15

1Samuel said to Saul, "Yahweh sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now listen to the voice of the words of Yahweh."

2Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "I have remembered what Amalek did to Israel, how he opposed him on the way when he came up from Egypt."

3Now go, strike Amalek, and devote everything he possesses to destruction; do not pity him, but put to death man and woman, infant and nursling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

4Saul summoned the people and mustered them at Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.

5Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.

6Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, turn aside, come down from among the Amalekites, lest I consume you along with them, because you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt." The Kenites departed from among Amalek.

7Saul struck the Amalekites from Havilah until you reach Shur, which lies before Egypt.

8He captured Agag, king of Amalek, alive, and devoted all the people to destruction with the edge of the sword.

9Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and everything good, refusing to devote them to destruction, but they devoted all the despised and worthless goods to destruction.

10Then Yahweh's word came to Samuel, saying,

11I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned from following me and has not fulfilled my words. Samuel was angry, and he cried out to Yahweh all night.

12Samuel arose early in the morning to meet Saul, and word came to him: Saul had arrived at Carmel, and indeed he set up a pillar for himself, then turned, passed on, and went down to Gilgal.

13Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "You are blessed by Yahweh; I have fulfilled Yahweh's word."

14Samuel said, "What is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?"

15Saul said, "They brought them from the Amalekites—the best of the sheep and cattle that the people spared—to sacrifice to Yahweh your God, and we have utterly destroyed the rest."

16Samuel said to Saul, “Enough, let me declare to you what Yahweh spoke to me last night.” He answered him, “Speak.”

17Samuel said, "Though you were small in your own eyes, weren't you head of Israel's tribes? Yahweh anointed you king over Israel."

18Yahweh sent you on your way and said, "Go, destroy Amalek's sinners completely, and fight them until they are consumed."

19Why did you not obey the voice of Yahweh, but rushed upon the spoil and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh?

20Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh and gone the way he sent me, and brought Agag, king of Amalek, and utterly destroyed Amalek."

21The people took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the choicest of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.

22Samuel said, "Does Yahweh delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying his voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and heeding better than the fat of rams."

23For rebellion equals the sin of divination, and stubbornness equals iniquity and teraphim, because you rejected Yahweh's word, so he rejected you from kingship.

24Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I disobeyed Yahweh's command and your words because I feared the people and heeded their voice."

25Now please forgive my sin, and return with me, that I may bow down to Yahweh.

26Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, because you rejected Yahweh's word, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel."

27As Samuel turned to leave, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.

28Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and given it to your neighbor, who is better than you."

29Even the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent.

30He said, "I have sinned; now please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God."

31Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul bowed down to Yahweh.

32Samuel said, "Bring Agag, king of Amalek, to me." Agag came to him daintily. Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death has turned aside."

33Samuel said, "As your sword has bereaved women, so your mother shall be bereaved among women." Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal.

34Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

35Samuel did not see Saul again until the day he died, for Samuel mourned for Saul, and Yahweh regretted making Saul king over Israel.