I Samuel

1 Samuel also said to Saul, “Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israēl: now therefore listen you to the voice of the words of Yahweh.

2 Thus says Yahweh of armies, ‘I remember what Amalēk did to Israēl, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.

3 Now go and smite Amalēk, 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 donkey.' ”

4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two 100,000 footmen, and 10,000 men of Judah.

5 And Saul came to a city of Amalēk, and laid wait in the valley.

6 And Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalēkites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israēl, when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalēkites.

7 And Saul smote the Amalēkites from Havilah until you come to Shur, that is over against Egypt.

8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalēkites 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 Yahweh to Samuel, saying,

11 “I regret that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following me, and hasn't performed my commandments.” And it grieved Samuel; and he cried to Yahweh 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 to him, “Blessed be of Yahweh: I have performed the command of Yahweh.”

14 And Samuel said, “What means then 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 Amalēkites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh has said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Say on.”

17 And Samuel said, “When you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israēl, and Yahweh anointed you king over Israēl?

18 And Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalēkites, and fight against them until they be consumed.'

19 Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil, and did evil in the sight of Yahweh?”

20 And Saul said to Samuel, “Yes, I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalēk, and have utterly destroyed the Amalēkites.

21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim in Gilgal.”

22 And Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen 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 Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king.”

24 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the command of Yahweh, and your words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

25 Now therefore, please, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh.”

26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I won't return with you; for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israēl.”

27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold on the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

28 And Samuel said to him, “Yahweh has rent the kingdom of Israēl from you this day, and has given it to a neighbour of yours, that is better than you.

29 And also the Strength of Israēl won't lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.”

30 Then he said, “I have sinned: yet honour me now, please, before the elders of my people, and before Israēl, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh your Elohim.”

31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped Yahweh.

32 Then Samuel said, “Bring to me Agag the king of the Amalēkites.” And Agag came to him delicately. 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh repented that he had made Saul king over Israēl.