I Samuel 15
15
Saul Spares King Agag
1Samuel also said to Saul, #1 Sam. 8:11“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, #1 Sam. 9:16; 10:1how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3Now go and #Ex. 17:8, 14; Num. 24:20; Deut. 25:17–19attack Amalek, and #Deut. 25:19utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
4So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
6Then Saul said to #Lev. 27:28, 29; Num. 24:20; Deut. 20:16–18; Josh. 6:17–21the Kenites, #Num. 24:21; Judg. 1:16; 4:11–22; 1 Chr. 2:55“Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For #Gen. 18:25; 19:12, 14; Rev. 18:4you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7#Ex. 18:10, 19; Num. 10:29, 32And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from #1 Sam. 14:48Havilah all the way to #Gen. 2:11; 25:17, 18Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8#Gen. 16:7; Ex. 15:22; 1 Sam. 27:8He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and #1 Sam. 15:32, 33utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9But Saul and the people #1 Sam. 27:8, 9spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Saul Rejected as King
10Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11#1 Sam. 15:3, 15, 19“I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has #Gen. 6:6, 7; 1 Sam. 15:35; 2 Sam. 24:16turned back from following Me, #Josh. 22:16; 1 Kin. 9:6and has not performed My commandments.” And it #1 Sam. 13:13; 15:3, 9grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. 12So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to #1 Sam. 15:35; 16:1Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.” 13Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, #Josh. 15:55; 1 Sam. 25:2“Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
14But Samuel said, “What then is 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 the Amalekites; #Gen. 14:19; Judg. 17:2; Ruth 3:10; 2 Sam. 2:5for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
And he said to him, “Speak on.”
17So Samuel said, #(Gen. 3:12, 13; Ex. 32:22, 23); 1 Sam. 15:9, 21; (Prov. 28:13)“When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20And Saul said to Samuel, #1 Sam. 9:21; 10:22“But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21#1 Sam. 15:13; (Prov. 28:13)But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22So Samuel said:
#1 Sam. 15:15“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, #Ps. 50:8, 9; 51:16, 17; (Prov. 21:3; Is. 1:11–17; Jer. 7:22, 23; Mic. 6:6–8; Heb. 10:4–10)to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
#(Eccl. 5:1; Hos. 6:6; Matt. 5:24; 9:13; 12:7; Mark 12:33)He also has rejected you from being king.”
24#1 Sam. 13:14; 16:1Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I #Num. 22:34; Josh. 7:20; 1 Sam. 26:21; 2 Sam. 12:13; Ps. 51:4feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
26But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, #(Ex. 23:2; Prov. 29:25; Is. 51:12, 13)for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27And as Samuel turned around to go away, #1 Sam. 2:30Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28So Samuel said to him, #1 Kin. 11:30, 31“The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29And also the Strength of Israel #1 Sam. 28:17, 18; 1 Kin. 11:31will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet #Num. 23:19; Ezek. 24:14; 2 Tim. 2:13; Titus 1:2honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously.
And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33But Samuel said, #(John 5:44; 12:43)“As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
34Then Samuel went to #(Gen. 9:6); Num. 14:45; Judg. 1:7; (Matt. 7:2)Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at #1 Sam. 7:17Gibeah of Saul. 35And #1 Sam. 11:4Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
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I Samuel 15: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Samuel 15
15
The Lord rejects Saul as king
1Samuel said to Saul, ‘I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy#15:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20 and 21. all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” ’
4So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim – two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6Then he said to the Kenites, ‘Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.’ So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.
7Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves#15:9 Or the grown bulls; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. and lambs – everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11‘I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.’ Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
12Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, ‘Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honour and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.’
13When Samuel reached him, Saul said, ‘The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’
14But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?’
15Saul answered, ‘The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.’
16‘Enough!’ Samuel said to Saul. ‘Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’
‘Tell me,’ Saul replied.
17Samuel said, ‘Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And he sent you on a mission, saying, “Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.” 19Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?’
20‘But I did obey the Lord,’ Saul said. ‘I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’
22But Samuel replied:
‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.’
24Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.’
26But Samuel said to him, ‘I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!’
27As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbours – to one better than you. 29He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.’
30Saul replied, ‘I have sinned. But please honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.’ 31So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
32Then Samuel said, ‘Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.’
Agag came to him in chains.#15:32 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. And he thought, ‘Surely the bitterness of death is past.’
33But Samuel said,
‘As your sword has made women childless,
so will your mother be childless among women.’
And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.
34Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
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