1SA-15:1 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.
1SA-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.
1SA-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.
1SA-15:4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered
them in
Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of
Judah.
1SA-15:5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the
valley.
1SA-15:6 And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you
down
from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye
showed
kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of
Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
1SA-15:7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah [until] thou
comest to Shur, that [is] over against Egypt.
1SA-15:8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and
utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
1SA-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.
1SA-15:10 Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
1SA-15:11 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.
1SA-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 is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to
Gilgal.
1SA-15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him,
Blessed
[be] thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the
LORD.
1SA-15:14 And Samuel said, What [meaneth] then this bleating of
the
sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
1SA-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 unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly
destroyed.
1SA-15:16 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.
1SA-15:17 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?
1SA-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 be consumed.
1SA-15:19 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?
1SA-15:20 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.
1SA-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
unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
1SA-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.
1SA-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.
1SA-15:24 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.
1SA-15:25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn
again
with me, that I may worship the LORD.
1SA-15:26 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.
1SA-15:27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold
upon
the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
1SA-15:28 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.
1SA-15:29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor
repent:
for he [is] not a man, that he should repent.
1SA-15:30 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.
1SA-15:31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul
worshipped the
LORD.
1SA-15:32 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.
1SA-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.
1SA-15:34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his
house to
Gibeah of Saul.
1SA-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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