Verse 1
Samuel said to Saul, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore listen you to the voice of the words of Yahweh.
Verse 2
Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.
Verse 3
Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
Verse 4
Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
Verse 5
Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
Verse 6
Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you shown kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
Verse 7
Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt.
Verse 8
He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
Verse 9
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and wouldn't utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
Verse 10
Then came the word of Yahweh to Samuel, saying,
Verse 11
It repents me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments. Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.
Verse 12
Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a monument, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.
Verse 13
Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, Blessed are you by Yahweh: I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.
Verse 14
Samuel said, What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
Verse 15
Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
Verse 16
Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh has said to me this night. He said to him, Say on.
Verse 17
Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh anointed you king over Israel;
Verse 18
and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.'
Verse 19
Why then didn't you obey the voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh?"
Verse 20
Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
Verse 21
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.
Verse 22
Samuel said, Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
Verse 23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king.
Verse 24
Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
Verse 25
Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh.
Verse 26
Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.
Verse 27
As Samuel turned about to go away, [Saul] laid hold on the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
Verse 28
Samuel said to him, Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
Verse 29
Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.
Verse 30
Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, Please, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.
Verse 31
So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh.
Verse 32
Then said Samuel, Bring you here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
Verse 33
Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal.
Verse 34
Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
Verse 35
Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and Yahweh repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.