1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king
over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the
words of the LORD.
2 Thus
saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he
laid wait for
him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
3 Now
go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them
not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and
ass.
4 And
Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred
thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 And
Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
6 And
Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites,
lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed 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 smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over
against 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 every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed
utterly.
10 Then
came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
11 It
repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from
following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel;
and he cried unto the LORD all night.
12 And
when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying,
Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and
passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
13 And
Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou
of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
14 And
Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in
mine 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 unto the LORD thy God; and
the rest we have utterly destroyed.
16 Then
Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me
this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
17 And
Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou
not made the
head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
18 And
the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners
the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
19 Wherefore
then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil,
and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
20 And
Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone
the way which the LORD 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 things which
should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in
Gilgal.
22 And
Samuel said, Hath 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 witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou
hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
24 And
Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment
of the LORD, 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 the LORD.
26 And
Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the
word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
27 And
as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle,
and it rent.
28 And
Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this
day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that 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 honour me now, I pray thee, before the
elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may
worship the LORD thy God.
31 So
Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.
32 Then
said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag
came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is
past.
33 And
Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy 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 to Gibeah of Saul.
35 And
Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel
mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
