15:1 Samuel also said to Saul, the LORD sent me to anoint thee
[to be] king over his people, over Israel: now therefore
hearken thou to the voice of the words of the LORD.
15:2 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.
15:3 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.
15:4 And Saul assembled the people, and numbered them in Telaim,
two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
15:5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the
valley.
15:6 And Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, withdraw
yourselves from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with
them: for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel when
they came up from Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the
Amalekites.
15:7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah, [until] thou
comest to Shur, that [is] over against Egypt.
15:8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and
utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
15:9 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.
15:10 Then came the word of the LORD to Samuel, saying,
15:11 I repent 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 to the LORD
all night.
15:12 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 has gone about, and passed on, and gone
down to Gilgal.
15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said to him, Blessed
[be] thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the
LORD.
15:14 And Samuel said, What [meaneth] then this bleating of the
sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15:15 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 the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly
destroyed.
15:16 Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what
the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said to him, Say
on.
15:17 And Samuel said, When thou [wast] little in thy own sight,
[wast] thou not [made] the head of the tribes of Israel, and
the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
15:18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and
utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against
them until they are consumed.
15:19 Why 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?
15:20 And Saul said to 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.
15:21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the
chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed,
to sacrifice to the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
15:22 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.
15:23 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.
15:24 And Saul said to 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.
15:25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again
with me, that I may worship the LORD.
15:26 And Samuel said to 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.
15:27 And as Samuel turned about to depart, he laid hold upon
the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
15:28 And Samuel said to him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of
Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of
thine, [that is] better than thou.
15:29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent:
for he [is] not a man, that he should repent.
15:30 Then he said, I have sinned: [yet] honor 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.
15:31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped the
LORD.
15:32 Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of
the Amalekites. And Agag came to him delicately. And Agag said,
Surely the bitterness of death is past.
15:33 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.
15:34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house
to Gibeah of Saul.
15:35 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.
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