The First Book of Samuel (WEB)
15: 1Samuel said to Saul, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel:
now therefore listen you to the voice of the words of Yahweh. 15:2Thus says Yahweh 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. 15:3Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and
don't spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and
donkey. 15:4Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand
footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 15:5Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the
valley. 15:6Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I
destroy you with them; for you shown kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up
out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 15:7Saul struck the Amalekites,
from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt. 15:8He took Agag the king of the Amalekites
alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 15:9But 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 wouldn't utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they
destroyed utterly. 15:10Then came the word of Yahweh to Samuel, saying, 15:11It 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. Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night. 15:12Samuel 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. 15:13Samuel came to
Saul; and Saul said to him, Blessed are you by Yahweh: I have performed the commandment of
Yahweh. 15:14Samuel said, What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of
the oxen which I hear? 15:15Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people
spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God; and the rest we
have utterly destroyed. 15:16Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh has
said to me this night. He said to him, Say on. 15:17Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own
sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh anointed you king over Israel;
15:18and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the
Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 15:19Why then didn't you obey the
voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh?"
15:20Saul 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 Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the
Amalekites. 15:21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to
sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal. 15:22Samuel 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. 15:23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has
also rejected you from being king. 15:24Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed
the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their
voice. 15:25Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship
Yahweh. 15:26Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of
Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel. 15:27As Samuel turned about to
go away, Saul laid hold on the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 15:28Samuel said to him, Yahweh has
torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better
than you. 15:29Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should
repent. 15:30Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, Please, before the elders of my people,
and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God. 15:31So Samuel
turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh. 15:32Then said Samuel, Bring you here to me
Agag the king of the Amalekites. Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, Surely the bitterness of
death is past. 15:33Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be
childless among women. Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal. 15:34Then Samuel
went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. 15:35Samuel came no more to see
Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and Yahweh repented that he had
made Saul king over Israel.
World English Bible