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