The Bible

35 verses

1 Samuel Chapter 15

¹Samuel said to Saul, "ForeverOne sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the words of ForeverOne.

²Thus says ForeverOne of Armies, 'I have marked what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.

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 nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" ⁴Saul summoned the people, and counted them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.

⁵Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.

⁶Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

⁷Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt.

⁸He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

⁹But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the cattle, 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.

¹⁰Then the word of ForeverOne came to Samuel, saying, ¹¹"It grieves 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 ForeverOne all night.

¹²Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and Samuel was told, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal." ¹³Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, "You are blessed by ForeverOne! I have performed the commandment of ForeverOne." ¹⁴Samuel said, "Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?" ¹⁵Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to ForeverOne your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest." ¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stay, and I will tell you what ForeverOne has said to me last night." He said to him, "Say on." ¹⁷Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? ForeverOne anointed you king over Israel; ¹⁸and ForeverOne sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' ¹⁹Then why didn't you obey the voice of ForeverOne, but took the spoils, and did what was evil in the sight of ForeverOne?" ²⁰Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of ForeverOne, and have gone the way which ForeverOne sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

²¹But the people took of the spoil, sheep and cattle, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to ForeverOne your God in Gilgal." ²²Samuel said, "Has ForeverOne as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of ForeverOne? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of ForeverOne, he has also rejected you from being king." ²⁴Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of ForeverOne, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

²⁵Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship ForeverOne." ²⁶Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of ForeverOne, and ForeverOne has rejected you from being king over Israel." ²⁷As Samuel turned about to go away, Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore.

²⁸Samuel said to him, "ForeverOne has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

²⁹Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent." ³⁰Then he said, "I have sinned: yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship ForeverOne your God." ³¹So Samuel went back with Saul; and Saul worshiped ForeverOne.

³²Then Samuel said, "Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites!" Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past." ³³Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!" Samuel cut Agag in pieces before ForeverOne in Gilgal.

³⁴Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and ForeverOne grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.