Saul Spares King Agag
1 Samuel also said to Saul,“TheLordsent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of theLord.
2 Thus says theLordof hosts: ‘I will punish Amalekforwhat he did to Israel,how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.
3 Now go andattack Amalek, andutterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
6 Then Saul said tothe Kenites,“Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. Foryou showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, fromHavilah all the way toShur, which is east of Egypt.
8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, andutterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the peoplespared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and allthatwasgood, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Saul Rejected as King
10 Now the word of theLordcame to Samuel, saying,
11 “I greatly regret that I have set up Saulasking, for he hasturned back from following Me,and has not performed My commandments.” And itgrieved Samuel, and he cried out to theLordall night.
12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went toCarmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.”
13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him,“Blessedareyou of theLord! I have performed the commandment of theLord.”
14 But Samuel said, “What thenisthis bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites;for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to theLordyour God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what theLordsaid to me last night.”
And he said to him, “Speak on.”
17 So Samuel said,“When youwerelittle in your own eyes,wereyou not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not theLordanoint you king over Israel?
18 Now theLordsent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
19 Why then did you not obey the voice of theLord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of theLord?”
20 And Saul said to Samuel,“But I have obeyed the voice of theLord, and gone on the mission on which theLordsent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to theLordyour God in Gilgal.”
22 So Samuel said:
# “Has theLordasgreatdelight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of theLord?
# Behold,to obey is better than sacrifice,
Andto heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellionisasthe sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornnessisasiniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of theLord,
# He also has rejected you frombeingking.”
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of theLordand your words, because Ifeared the people and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship theLord.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you,for you have rejected the word of theLord, and theLordhas rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27 And as Samuel turned around to go away,Saulseized the edge of his robe, and it tore.
28 So Samuel said to him,“TheLordhas torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours,whoisbetter than you.
29 And also the Strength of Israelwill not lie nor relent. For Heisnot a man, that He should relent.”
30 Then he said, “I have sinned;yethonor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship theLordyour God.”
31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped theLord.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously.
And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33 But Samuel said,“As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before theLordin Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went toRamah, and Saul went up to his house atGibeah of Saul.
35 AndSamuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and theLordregretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.