1 Samuel 15
15
Saul Disobeys the LORD
1Samuel told Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king of his people Israel. Now listen to the Lord’s words. 2This is what the Lord of Armies says: I will punish Amalek for what they did to Israel. They blocked Israel’s way after the Israelites came from Egypt. 3Now go and attack Amalek. Claim everything they have for God by destroying it. Don’t spare them, but kill men and women, infants and children, cows and sheep, camels and donkeys.”
4Saul organized the troops, and he counted them at Telaim: 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men from Judah. 5Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. 6Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Get away from the Amalekites so that I won’t destroy you with them. You were kind to all the Israelites when they came from Egypt.” So the Kenites left the Amalekites.
7Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt. 8He captured King Agag of Amalek alive. But he claimed all the people for God by destroying them. 9Saul and the army spared Agag and the best sheep and cows, the fattened animals, the lambs, and all the best ⌞property⌟. The army refused to claim them for God by destroying them. But everything that was worthless and weak the army did claim for God and destroy.
The LORD Rejects Saul
10Then the Lord spoke to Samuel: 11“I regret that I made Saul king. He turned away from me and did not carry out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he prayed to the Lord all night. 12Early in the morning he got up to meet Saul. Samuel was told, “Saul went to Carmel to set up a monument in his honor. Then he left there and went to Gilgal.”
13Samuel came to Saul, who said, “The Lord bless you. I carried out the Lord’s instructions.”
14However, Samuel asked,
“But what is this sound of sheep in my ears
and this sound of cows that I hear?”
15Saul answered, “The army brought them from the Amalekites. They spared the best sheep and cows to sacrifice to the Lord your God. But the rest they claimed for God and destroyed.”
16“Be quiet,” Samuel told Saul, “and let me tell you what the Lord told me last night.”
“Speak,” Saul replied.
17Samuel said, “Even though you don’t consider yourself great, you were the head of Israel’s tribes. The Lord anointed you king of Israel. 18And the Lord sent you on a mission. He said, ‘Claim those sinners, the Amalekites, for me by destroying them. Wage war against them until they’re wiped out.’ 19Why didn’t you obey the Lord? Why have you taken their belongings and done what the Lord considers evil?”
20“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul told Samuel. “I went where the Lord sent me, brought ⌞back⌟ King Agag of Amalek, and claimed the Amalekites for God. 21The army took some of their belongings—the best sheep and cows were claimed for God—in order to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22Then Samuel said,
“Is the Lord as delighted with burnt offerings and sacrifices
as he would be with your obedience?
To follow instructions is better than to sacrifice.
To obey is better than sacrificing the fat of rams.
23The sin of black magic is rebellion.
Wickedness and idolatry are arrogance.
Because you rejected the Lord’s word,
he rejects you as king.”
24Then Saul told Samuel, “I have sinned by not following the Lord’s command or your instructions. I was afraid of the people and listened to them. 25Now please forgive my sin and come back with me so that I may worship the Lord.”
26Samuel told Saul, “I will not go back with you because you rejected what the Lord told you. So the Lord rejects you as king of Israel.” 27When Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28Samuel told him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today. He has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. 29In addition, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind, because he is not a mortal who changes his mind.”
30Saul replied, “I have sinned! Now please honor me in front of the leaders of my people and in front of Israel. Come back with me, and let me worship the Lord your God.” 31Then Samuel turned and followed Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
32“Bring me King Agag of Amalek,” Samuel said.
Agag came to him trembling.#15:32 Or “Agag came to him in shackles.” “Surely, the bitterness of death is past,” Agag said.
33But Samuel said, “As your sword made women childless, so your mother will be made childless among women.” And Samuel cut Agag in pieces in the presence of the Lord at Gilgal.
34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went to his home at Gibeah. 35Samuel didn’t see Saul again before he died, though Samuel mourned over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king of Israel.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
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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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.