[1] And Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his
people Israel; now therefore hearken to the words of the LORD. [2] Thus
says the LORD of hosts, `I will punish what Am'alek did to Israel in
opposing them on the way, when they came up out of Egypt. [3] Now go and
smite Am'alek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them,
but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and
ass.'" [4] So Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Tela'im, two
hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. [5] And Saul
came to the city of Am'alek, and lay in wait in the valley. [6] And Saul
said to the Ken'ites, "Go, depart, go down from among the Amal'ekites, lest
I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the people of
Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Ken'ites departed from among
the Amal'ekites. [7] And Saul defeated the Amal'ekites, from Hav'ilah as
far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. [8] And he took Agag the king of the
Amal'ekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of
the sword. [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 would not utterly destroy them; all that was despised and
worthless they utterly destroyed. [10] The word of the LORD came to Samuel:
[11] "I repent that I have made Saul king; for he has turned back from
following me, and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry;
and he cried to the LORD all night. [12] And Samuel rose early to meet Saul
in the morning; and it was told Samuel, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold,
he set up a monument for himself and turned, and passed on, and went down
to Gilgal." [13] And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be
you to the LORD; I have performed the commandment of the LORD." [14] And
Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the
lowing of the oxen which I hear?" [15] Saul said, "They have brought them
from the Amal'ekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of
the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly
destroyed." [16] Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you what the
LORD said to me this night." And he said to him, "Say on." [17] And Samuel
said, "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the
tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. [18] And the LORD
sent you on a mission, and said, `Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the
Amal'ekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' [19] Why then
did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop on the spoil, and
do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?" [20] And Saul said to Samuel,
"I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, I have gone on the mission on which
the LORD sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Am'alek, and I have
utterly destroyed the Amal'ekites. [21] But the people took of the spoil,
sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice
to the LORD your God in Gilgal." [22] And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as
great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of
the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the
fat of rams. [23] For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the
word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king." [24] And Saul
said to Samuel, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of
the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their
voice. [25] Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, that
I may worship the LORD." [26] And 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." [27] As Samuel turned to go
away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his robe, and it tore. [28] And
Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this
day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. [29]
And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or repent; for he is not a man,
that he should repent." [30] Then he said, "I have sinned; yet honor me now
before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that
I may worship the LORD your God." [31] So Samuel turned back after Saul;
and Saul worshiped the LORD. [32] Then Samuel said, "Bring here to me Agag
the king of the Amal'ekites." And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said,
"Surely the bitterness of death is past." [33] And Samuel said, "As your
sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among
women." And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. [34]
Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gib'e-ah of
Saul. [35] And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death,
but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD repented that he had made Saul
king over Israel.