1 Samuel 15
15
1 Samuel 15
1¶ And Samuel 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.
2Thus hath said the Lord of the hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt.
3Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare him not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
4And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.
5And Saul came to a city of Amalek and laid wait in the valley.
6And Saul said unto the Kenite, Go, depart, go out from among those of Amalek lest I destroy you with them, for ye showed mercy to all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenite departed from among those of Amalek.
7And Saul smote Amalek from Havilah until thou comest to Shur that is over against Egypt.
8And he 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 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.
10¶ Then the word of the Lord came unto Samuel, saying,
11It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it incensed Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night.
12And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set himself up a monument and is gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal.
13And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
14Then Samuel said, What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15And Saul said, They have brought them from Amalek, 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.
16Then 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.
17And 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?
18And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners of Amalek and fight against them until they are consumed.
19Why then didst thou not hear the voice of the Lord but didst fly upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?
20And Saul said unto Samuel, But 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.
21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the firstfruits of the anathema, to sacrifice them unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
22And Samuel said, Does the Lord have as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in hearing the voice of the Lord? Behold, to hear is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and to break the word of the Lord is iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected thee from being king.
24¶ Then 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 consented unto their voice.
25Now, therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord.
26And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected thee from being king over Israel.
27And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
28And Samuel said unto him, The Lord has rent the kingdom of Israel from thee today and has given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou.
29And also the Overcomer of Israel will not lie nor repent concerning this, for he is not a man, that he should repent.
30Then 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.
31So Samuel turned again after Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
32¶ Then Samuel said, Bring me Agag, the king of Amalek. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is near.
33And Samuel said, As thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. Then Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.
35And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul because the Lord had repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International
1 Samuel 15
15
1-2a Samuel said to Saul, “God sent me to anoint you king over his people, Israel. Now, listen again to what God says. This is the God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaking:
2b-3 “‘I’m about to get even with Amalek for ambushing Israel when Israel came up out of Egypt. Here’s what you are to do: Go to war against Amalek. Put everything connected with Amalek under a holy ban. And no exceptions! This is to be total destruction—men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys—the works.’”
4-5Saul called the army together at Telaim and prepared them to go to war—two hundred companies of infantry from Israel and another ten companies from Judah. Saul marched to Amalek City and hid in the canyon.
6Then Saul got word to the Kenites: “Get out of here while you can. Evacuate the city right now or you’ll get lumped in with the Amalekites. I’m warning you because you showed real kindness to the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.”
And they did. The Kenites evacuated the place.
7-9Then Saul went after Amalek, from the canyon all the way to Shur near the Egyptian border. He captured Agag, king of Amalek, alive. Everyone else was killed under the terms of the holy ban. Saul and the army made an exception for Agag, and for the choice sheep and cattle. They didn’t include them under the terms of the holy ban. But all the rest, which nobody wanted anyway, they destroyed as decreed by the holy ban.
10-11a Then God spoke to Samuel: “I’m sorry I ever made Saul king. He’s turned his back on me. He refuses to do what I tell him.”
11b-12 Samuel was angry when he heard this. He prayed his anger and disappointment all through the night. He got up early in the morning to confront Saul but was told, “Saul’s gone. He went to Carmel to set up a victory monument in his own honor, and then was headed for Gilgal.”
By the time Samuel caught up with him, Saul had just finished an act of worship, having used Amalekite plunder for the burnt offerings sacrificed to God.
13As Samuel came close, Saul called out, “God’s blessings on you! I accomplished God’s plan to the letter!”
14Samuel said, “So what’s this I’m hearing—this bleating of sheep, this mooing of cattle?”
15“Only some Amalekite loot,” said Saul. “The soldiers saved back a few of the choice cattle and sheep to offer up in sacrifice to God. But everything else we destroyed under the holy ban.”
16“Enough!” interrupted Samuel. “Let me tell you what God told me last night.”
Saul said, “Go ahead. Tell me.”
17-19And Samuel told him. “When you started out in this, you were nothing—and you knew it. Then God put you at the head of Israel—made you king over Israel. Then God sent you off to do a job for him, ordering you, ‘Go and put those sinners, the Amalekites, under a holy ban. Go to war against them until you have totally wiped them out.’ So why did you not obey God? Why did you grab all this loot? Why, with God’s eyes on you all the time, did you brazenly carry out this evil?”
20-21Saul defended himself. “What are you talking about? I did obey God. I did the job God set for me. I brought in King Agag and destroyed the Amalekites under the terms of the holy ban. So the soldiers saved back a few choice sheep and cattle from the holy ban for sacrifice to God at Gilgal—what’s wrong with that?”
22-23Then Samuel said,
Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—
empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,
not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you
is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God
is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God’s command,
he says No to your kingship.
24-25Saul gave in and confessed, “I’ve sinned. I’ve trampled roughshod over God’s Word and your instructions. I cared more about pleasing the people. I let them tell me what to do. Oh, absolve me of my sin! Take my hand and lead me to the altar so I can worship God!”
26But Samuel refused: “No, I can’t come alongside you in this. You rejected God’s command. Now God has rejected you as king over Israel.”
27-29As Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed at his priestly robe and a piece tore off. Samuel said, “God has just now torn the kingdom from you, and handed it over to your neighbor, a better man than you are. Israel’s God-of-Glory doesn’t deceive and he doesn’t dither. He says what he means and means what he says.”
30Saul tried again, “I have sinned. But don’t abandon me! Support me with your presence before the leaders and the people. Come alongside me as I go back to worship God.”
31Samuel did. He went back with him. And Saul dropped to his knees before God and worshiped.
32Then Samuel said, “Present King Agag of Amalek to me.” Agag came, dragging his feet, muttering that he’d be better off dead.
33Samuel said, “Just as your sword made many a woman childless, so your mother will be childless among those women!” And Samuel cut Agag down in the presence of God right there in Gilgal.
34-35Samuel left immediately for Ramah and Saul went home to Gibeah. Samuel had nothing to do with Saul from then on, though he grieved long and deeply over him. But God was sorry he had ever made Saul king in the first place.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.