1 Samuel 15:1-28 ▼

1 And Samuel said to Saul, “YHWH sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. And now listen to the voice of the words of YHWH.

2 Thus says YHWH of Hosts: ‘I have looked after that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid in wait for him on the way in his going up out of Egypt.

3 Now go and strike the Amalekite, and utterly destroy all that is unto him, and do not spare him, and kill from man to woman, and from infant to nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

4 And Saul summoned the people 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 he lay in wait in the valley.

6 And Saul said to the Kenite, “Go, depart, get down from the midst of the Amalekite, lest I consume you with him. For you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel in their going up out of Egypt.” And the Kenite departed from the midst of the Amalekite,

7 and Saul struck the Amalekite from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is on the face of Egypt.

8 And He took Agag king of the Amalekite alive, and all the people he devoted to destruction with the mouth of the sword.

9 And Saul and the people had pity on Agag, and on the best of the flock and of the herd and of the seconds, and on the lambs, and on all that was good, and they were not willing to utterly destroy them, and all the work that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

10 And the word of YHWH came to Samuel, saying,

11 “I regret that Saul I have made reign as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and My commandments he has not performed.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to YHWH all the night.

12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, and it was declared to Samuel, saying, “Saul has come in to Carmel, and indeed, he has set up for himself a monument, and he has turned and passed over and gone down to Gilgal.”

13 And Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of YHWH! I have performed the commandment of YHWH.”

14 And Samuel said, “And what is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the herd that I am hearing?”

15 And Saul said, “From the Amalekite they have brought them, for the people spared the best of the flock and of the herd to sacrifice to YHWH your God, and the rest we devoted to destruction.”

16 And Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet, and I will tell you what YHWH said to me in the night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

17 And Samuel said, “Is it not that when you were small in your own eyes—the head of the tribes of Israel—then YHWH anointed you as king over Israel?

18 And YHWH sent you in the way and said, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekite, and fight against them until they are consumed.’

19 And why did you not listened to the voice of YHWH, and why did you swoop down on the spoil and do the evil in the eyes of YHWH?”

20 And Saul said to Samuel, “Because I have listened to the voice of YHWH and gone in the way that YHWH sent me and brought back Agag king of Amalek, and the Amalekite I have devoted to destruction.

21 And the people took from the plunder sheep and oxen, the first part of the devoted thing, to sacrifice to YHWH your God in Gilgal.”

22 And Samuel said, “Has YHWH delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in listening to the voice of YHWH? Behold, to listen is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.

23 For as the sin of witchcraft is rebellion, and iniquity and teraphim is stubbornness, because you have rejected the word of YHWH, so He has rejected you as king.”

24 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of YHWH, and your words, because I feared the people and I listened to their voice.

25 And now, please, lift up my sin and return with me, that I may worship YHWH.”

26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of YHWH, and YHWH has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

27 And Samuel turned around to go away, and he laid hold of the edge of his robe, and it tore.

28 And Samuel said to him, “YHWH has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and He has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.