1 Samuel 15

¹ Samuel also said to Saul, Jehovah has sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of Jehovah.

² Thus says Jehovah of Hosts: I will punish Amalek for what he has done to Israel, how he had laid in wait for him on the way when he came up from Egypt.

³ Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly 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 mustered 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 And Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you 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 struck the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is before Egypt.

⁸ He also took Agag 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, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

¹⁰ And the Word of Jehovah came to Samuel, saying,

¹¹ I regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My words. And it angered Samuel, and he cried out to Jehovah all night.

¹² And when Samuel arose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul has come to Carmel, and behold, he is setting up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.

¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of Jehovah! I have carried out the Word of Jehovah.

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 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice unto Jehovah your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, Be quiet! And I will tell you what Jehovah has said to me last night. And he said to him, Speak.

¹⁷ And Samuel said, When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not Jehovah anoint you king over Israel?

¹⁸ Now Jehovah sent you on a mission, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them to finish them off.

¹⁹ Why then have you not obeyed the voice of Jehovah? Why did you swoop down upon the spoils, and do evil in the eyes of Jehovah?

²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, But I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah, and gone on the mission to which Jehovah sent me, and brought back Agag the 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, the devoted things, to sacrifice unto Jehovah your God in Gilgal.

²² And Samuel said: Has Jehovah as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in to obey the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of Jehovah, He also has rejected you from being king.

²⁴ And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of Jehovah and your words, because I feared the people and heeded their voice.

²⁵ Now therefore, please forgive my sin, and return with me, that I may bow down before Jehovah.

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

²⁷ And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.

²⁸ And Samuel said to him, Jehovah has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

²⁹ And also the Emminence of Israel will not deal falsely nor repent. For He is not a man, to repent.

³⁰ And he said, I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow down before Jehovah your God.

³¹ So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed down before Jehovah.

³² Then Samuel said, Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me. So Agag came to him delighted; for Agag thought, Surely the bitterness of death has 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 Jehovah at Gilgal.

³⁴ And Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵ And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and Jehovah was sorry that He had made Saul king over Israel.