1Samuel:15:1-33

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* Samuel also said unto Saul , The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people , over Israel : now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD . * 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 . * 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 . * And Saul gathered the people together , and numbered them in Telaim , two hundred thousand footmen , and ten thousand men of Judah . * And Saul came to a city of Amalek , and laid wait in the valley . * And Saul said unto the Kenites , Go , depart , get you down from among the Amalekites , lest I destroy you with them : for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel , when they came up out of Egypt . So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites . * And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur , that is over against Egypt . * And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive , and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword . * 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 . * Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel , saying , * It repenteth me 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 unto the LORD all night . * 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 . * And Samuel came to Saul : and Saul said unto him , Blessed be thou of the LORD : I have performed the commandment of the LORD . * And Samuel said , What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears , and the lowing of the oxen which I hear ? * 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 unto the LORD thy God ; and the rest we have utterly destroyed . * Then Samuel said unto Saul , Stay , and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night . And he said unto him , Say on . * And Samuel said , When thou wast little in thine own sight , wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel , and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel ? * And the LORD sent thee on a journey , and said , Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites , and fight against them until they be consumed . * Wherefore 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 ? * And Saul said unto 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 . * But the people took of the spoil , sheep and oxen , the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed , to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal . * 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 . * 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 . * And Saul said unto 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 . * Now therefore , I pray thee , pardon my sin , and turn again with me , that I may worship the LORD . * And Samuel said unto 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 . * And as Samuel turned about to go away , he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle , and it rent . * And Samuel said unto him , The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day , and hath given it to a neighbour of thine , that is better than thou . * And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent : for he is not a man , that he should repent . * Then he said , I have sinned : yet honour 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 . * So Samuel turned again after Saul ; and Saul worshipped the LORD . * Then said Samuel , Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites . And Agag came unto him delicately . And Agag said , Surely the bitterness of death is past . * 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 .

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