1 Samuel 15
15
Samuel rejects Saul’s kingship
1Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. Listen now to the LORD’s words! 2This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: I am going to punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel: how they attacked the Israelites as they came up from Egypt. 3So go! Attack the Amalekites; put everything that belongs to them under the ban.#15.3 A technique of holy war that often involves total destruction, in which everything that is destroyed is dedicated to the deity who helps in the battle; also in 15:8-9, 15, 18, 20-21. Spare no one. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.”
4Saul called out the troops and counted them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand more troops from Judah. 5Then Saul advanced on the Amalekite city and laid an ambush in the valley. 6Saul told the Kenites, “Get going! Leave the Amalekites immediately because you showed kindness to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. Otherwise, I’ll destroy you right along with them.” So the Kenites left the Amalekites. 7Then Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is near Egypt. 8He captured Agag the Amalekite king alive, but Saul placed all the people under the ban, killing them with the sword. 9Saul and the troops spared Agag along with the best sheep, cattle, fattened calves,#15.9 LXX lambs, and everything of value. They weren’t willing to put them under the ban; but anything that was despised or of no value#15.9 LXX; Heb uncertain they placed under the ban.
10Then the LORD’s word came to Samuel: 11“I regret making Saul king because he has turned away from following me and hasn’t done what I said.” Samuel was upset at this, and he prayed to the LORD all night long.
12Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul, and was told, “Saul went to Carmel, where he is setting up a monument for himself. Then he left and went down to Gilgal.”
13When Samuel reached Saul,#15.13 LXX adds he was offering entirely burned sacrifices to the LORD, the best of the plunder that he had taken from Amalek. As Samuel approached Saul. Saul greeted him, “The LORD bless you! I have done what the LORD said.”
14“Then what,” Samuel asked, “is this bleating of sheep in my ears and mooing of cattle I hear?”
15“They were taken from the Amalekites,” Saul said, “because the troops spared the best sheep and cattle in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God. The rest was placed under the ban.”
16Samuel then said to Saul, “Enough! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17Samuel said, “Even if you think you are insignificant, aren’t you the leader of Israel’s tribes? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18The LORD sent you on a mission, instructing you, ‘Go, and put the sinful Amalekites under the ban. Fight against them until you’ve wiped them out.’ 19Why didn’t you obey the LORD? You did evil in the LORD’s eyes when you tore into the plunder!”
20“But I did obey the LORD!” Saul protested to Samuel. “I went on the mission the LORD sent me on. I captured Agag the Amalekite king, and I put the Amalekites under the ban. 21Yes, the troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder—the very best items placed under the ban—but in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
22Then Samuel replied,
“Does the LORD want entirely burned offerings and sacrifices
as much as obedience to the LORD?
Listen to this: obeying is better than sacrificing,
paying attention is better than fat from rams,
23because rebellion is as bad as the sin of divination;
arrogance is like the evil of idolatry.#15.23 Sym, LXXB; MT evil and idolatry
Because you have rejected what the LORD said,
he has rejected you as king.”
24Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned because I disobeyed the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the troops and obeyed them. 25But now please forgive my sin! Come back with me, so I can worship the LORD.”
26But Samuel said to Saul, “I can’t#15.26 Or won’t return with you because you have rejected what the LORD said, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27Samuel turned to leave, but Saul grabbed at the edge of his robe, and it ripped. 28Then Samuel told him, “The LORD has ripped the kingdom of Israel from you today. He will give it to a friend of yours, someone who is more worthy than you. 29What’s more, the enduring one of Israel doesn’t take back what he says and doesn’t change his mind. He is not a human being who would change his mind.”
30“I have sinned,” Saul said, “but please honor me in front of my people’s elders and before Israel, and come back with me so I can worship the LORD your God.” 31So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshipped the LORD.
32“Bring me Agag the Amalekite king,” Samuel said.
Agag came to him in chains, asking, “Would death have been as bitter as this is?”#15.32 LXX; Heb uncertain
33Samuel said, “Just as your sword left women without their children, now your mother will be childless among women.” Then Samuel cut Agag to pieces in the LORD’s presence at Gilgal.
34Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah. 35Samuel never saw Saul again before he died, but he grieved over Saul. However, the LORD regretted making Saul king over Israel.
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1 Samuel 15: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
1 Samuel 15
15
1 Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the LORD’s words. 2The LORD of Hosts says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on 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.’”
4 Saul 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 set an ambush 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.
7 Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which 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, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
10 Then the LORD’s word came to Samuel, saying, 11“It 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.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to the LORD all night.
12 Samuel 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, turned, passed on, and went down to Gilgal.”
13 Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “You are blessed by the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”
14 Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?”
15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to the LORD your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
He said to him, “Say on.”
17 Samuel said, “Though you were little in your own sight, weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel; 18and the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19Why then didn’t you obey the LORD’s voice, but took the plunder, and did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight?”
20 Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the LORD’s voice, 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 plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
22 Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the LORD’s voice? 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.#15:23 teraphim were household idols that may have been associated with inheritance rights to the household property. Because you have rejected the LORD’s word, he has also rejected you from being king.”
24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD 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 the LORD.”
26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the LORD’s word, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27As Samuel turned around to go away, Saul grabbed the skirt 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 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.”
30 Then 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 the LORD your God.”
31 So Samuel went back with Saul; and Saul worshiped the LORD. 32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!”
Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33 Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
34 Then 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, but Samuel mourned for Saul. The LORD grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.
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