1 Samuel 15:1-35
15 Then Samuel said to Saul: “It was I whom Jehovah sent to anoint+ you as king over his people Israel, and now listen to the voice of the words of Jehovah.+
2 This is what Jehovah of armies+ has said, ‘I must call to account+ what Amʹa·lek did to Israel when he set himself against him in the way while he was coming up out of Egypt.+
3 Now go, and you must strike down Amʹa·lek+ and devote him to destruction+ with all that he has, and you must not have compassion upon him, and you must put them to death,+ man as well as woman, child as well as suckling,+ bull as well as sheep, camel as well as ass.’”+
4 Accordingly Saul summoned the people and took the count of them in Te·laʹim,+ two hundred thousand men on foot and ten thousand men of Judah.+
5 And Saul proceeded to come as far as the city of Amʹa·lek and to lie in ambush by the torrent valley.
6 Meanwhile Saul said to the Kenʹites:+ “GO, DEPART,+ GO DOWN from the midst of the A·malʹek·ites, that I may not sweep you away* with them. As for you, you exercised loving-kindness* with all the sons of Israel+ at the time of their coming up out of Egypt.”+ So the Kenʹites departed from the midst of Amʹa·lek.
7 After that Saul went striking down Amʹa·lek+ from Havʹi·lah+ as far as Shur,+ which is in front of Egypt.
8 And he got to catch Aʹgag+ the king of Amʹa·lek alive, and all the other people he devoted to destruction with the edge of the sword.+
9 But Saul and the people had compassion upon Aʹgag and upon the best of the flock and the herd+ and the fat ones* and upon the rams and upon all that was good, and they did not wish to devote them to destruction.+ As for all the goods that were despicable and rejected, these they devoted to destruction.
10 The word of Jehovah now came* to Samuel, saying:
11 “I do regret+ that I have caused Saul to reign as king, because he has turned+ back from following me, and my words he has not carried out.”+ And it was distressing to Samuel,*+ and he kept crying out to Jehovah all night long.+
12 Then Samuel got up early to meet Saul in the morning. But report was made to Samuel, saying: “Saul came to Carʹmel,+ and, look! he was erecting a monument+ for himself, and he then turned around and went across and descended to Gilʹgal.”
13 At length Samuel came to Saul, and Saul began to say to him: “Blessed+ are you of Jehovah. I have carried out the word of Jehovah.”+
14 But Samuel said: “Then what does this sound of the flock in my ears mean, and the sound of the herd that I am hearing?”+
15 To this Saul said: “From the A·malʹek·ites they have brought them, because the people+ had compassion upon the best of the flock and of the herd, for the purpose of sacrificing to Jehovah your God;+ but what was left over we have devoted to destruction.”
16 At this Samuel said to Saul: “Stop! And I will tell you what Jehovah spoke to me last night.”+ So he* said to him: “Speak!”
17 And Samuel went on to say: “Was it not when you were little in your own eyes+ that you were head of the tribes of Israel, and Jehovah proceeded to anoint+ you as king over Israel?
18 Later Jehovah sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, and you must devote the sinners,+ the A·malʹek·ites,* to destruction, and you must fight against them until you will have exterminated them.’+
19 So why is it you did not obey the voice of Jehovah but went darting greedily at the spoil+ and doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah?”+
20 However, Saul said to Samuel: “But I have obeyed+ the voice of Jehovah in that I went on the mission on which Jehovah had sent me and I brought Aʹgag+ the king of Amʹa·lek, but Amʹa·lek I have devoted to destruction.+
21 And the people+ went taking from the spoil sheep and cattle, the choicest of them as something devoted to destruction, to sacrifice+ to Jehovah your God in Gilʹgal.”+
22 In turn Samuel said: “Does Jehovah have as much delight in burnt offerings+ and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Look! To obey+ is better than a sacrifice,+ to pay attention than the fat+ of rams;
23 for rebelliousness+ is the same as the sin of divination,+ and pushing ahead presumptuously* the same as [using] uncanny power and teraphim.*+ Since you have rejected the word of Jehovah,+ he* accordingly rejects you from being king.”*+
24 Then Saul said to Samuel: “I have sinned;+ for I have overstepped the order of Jehovah and your words, because I feared the people+ and so obeyed their voice.
25 And now, please, pardon+ my sin and return with me that I may prostrate+ myself to* Jehovah.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul: “I shall not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Jehovah, and Jehovah rejects you from continuing as king over Israel.”+
27 As Samuel was turning about to go, he immediately grabbed hold of the skirt of his sleeveless coat, but it ripped+ away.
28 At this Samuel said to him: “Jehovah has ripped away+ the royal rule of Israel from off you today, and he will certainly give it to a fellowman of yours who is better than you.+
29 And, besides, the Excellency* of Israel+ will not prove false,+ and He will not feel regrets, for He is not an earthling man* so as to feel regrets.”+
30 At this he* said: “I have sinned. Now honor me,+ please, in front of the older men of my people and in front of Israel and return with me, and I shall certainly prostrate myself to Jehovah your God.”+
31 So Samuel returned behind Saul, and Saul proceeded to prostrate himself to Jehovah.
32 After that Samuel said: “BRING Aʹgag the king of Amʹa·lek near to me.” Then Aʹgag went to him reluctantly,* and Aʹgag began to say to himself:* “Truly the bitter experience of death has departed.”
33 However, Samuel said: “Just as your sword+ has bereaved women of children, in that way your mother+ will be most bereaved of children among women.”+ With that Samuel went hacking Aʹgag to pieces before Jehovah in Gilʹgal.+
34 Samuel now went his way to Raʹmah, and Saul, for his part, went up to his own house at Gibʹe·ah+ of Saul.
35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, because Samuel had gone into mourning+ for Saul. As for Jehovah, he regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.+
Footnotes
^ Or, “loyal love.”
^ “Sweep you away,” by a slight emendation; M, “collect (gather) you.”
^ “Fat ones,” T; M, “animals of the second litter,” hence, more valued.
^ Or, “occurred; came to be.”
^ “It was distressing to Samuel,” by a slight emendation; M, “Samuel became angry.”
^ “He,” Mmargin; M, “they.”
^ Lit., “Amalek.”
^ “From being king,” MVg; LXX, “from being king over Israel.”
^ “He,” MSy; LXX, “Jehovah.”
^ “Teraphim,” MLXX; Vg, “idolatry.”
^ “Pushing ahead presumptuously.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
^ Or, “I may worship.”
^ Or, “Eminence,” MSy; Vg, “Triumphant One.”
^ Or, “a man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ; Gr., anʹthro·pos; Lat., hoʹmo; Sy, “son of man.”
^ “He,” MVg; LXXSy, “Saul.”
^ Or, “in fetters.” Or, “cheerfully.” LXX, “trembling.”
^ Or, “began to think.”
