1Sam 15
1
And Samuel said to Saul, YHWH sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over
Israel: now therefore hearken you to the voice of the words of YHWH.
2
Thus says YHWH of hosts, I have marked 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 slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
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 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 smote the Amalekites, from Havilah as you 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 came the word of YHWH to Samuel, saying,
11
It repents me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following
me, and has not performed my commandments. And Samuel was wroth; and he cried to YHWH
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 him up 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 you of YHWH: I have performed
the commandment of YHWH.
14
And Samuel said, What means 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 to YHWH your God; and the rest we
have utterly destroyed.
16
Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell you what YHWH has said to me this
night. And he said to him, Say on.
17
And Samuel said, Though you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head
of the tribes of Israel? And YHWH anointed you king over Israel;
18
and YHWH sent you on a journey, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the
Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
19
Wherefore then did you not obey the voice of YHWH, but did fly upon the spoil, and
did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH?
20
And Saul said to Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of YHWH, and have gone the way
which YHWH 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 YHWH your God in Gilgal.
22
And Samuel said, Has YHWH as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in
obeying the voice of YHWH? 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 you have rejected the word of YHWH, he has also rejected you from being 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 obeyed their voice.
25
Now therefore, I pray you, pardon my sin, and turn again 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 as Samuel turned about to go away, [Saul] laid hold upon the skirt of his robe,
and it rent.
28
And Samuel said to him, YHWH has rent the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and
has given it to a neighbor of yours, that is better than you.
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 you, before the elders of my
people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship YHWH your God.
31
So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped YHWH.
32
Then said Samuel, Bring you 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 your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless
among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before YHWH 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 YHWH repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.