¹And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord has sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel, so now, listen to the voice of the words of the Lord. ²The Lord of hosts says this: ‘I have examined what Amalek did to Israel, how he took a position on the way when Israel came up out of Egypt. ³Now go and strike Amalek down, and obliterate everything of his, and do not show mercy to him, and put to death both men and women, both child and baby, both ox and sheep, both camel and donkey.’ ” ⁴And Saul summoned the people and counted them in Telaim – two hundred thousand infantrymen and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and he contended with him in the ravine. ⁶And Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down away from the Amalekites, so that I don't destroy you with them, for you acted kindly towards all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” And the Kenites departed and went away from Amalek. ⁷And Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah to where you come to Shur which is opposite Egypt. ⁸And he captured Agag king of the Amalekites alive, but he obliterated all the people by the edge of the sword. ⁹But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, and the cattle, and the second best of them, and the fatted lambs, and all the goods, for they were not willing to obliterate them. But they obliterated all the despised artisanry, and it was all melted down and they obliterated it. ¹⁰Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel and said, ¹¹“I regret making Saul king, for he has turned away from following me, and he has not fulfilled my words.” And it infuriated Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹²And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, and the matter was reported to Samuel with the words, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a landmark for himself, and he went round the perimeter, and he passed across, and he went down to Gilgal.” ¹³Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Be blessed by the Lord. I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.” ¹⁴But Samuel said, “Now what is this sound of sheep in my ears, and the sound of oxen which I hear?” ¹⁵And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, because the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen in order to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we have obliterated the remainder.” ¹⁶And Samuel said to Saul, “Stop, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak.” ¹⁷Then Samuel said, “Is it not so, that when you were unimportant in your own sight, you became the head of the tribes of Israel, and that the Lord anointed you as king over Israel? ¹⁸And the Lord sent you on an expedition and said, ‘Go and obliterate the sinners – the Amalekites – and fight them until you have finished them off.’ ¹⁹So why did you not obey the Lord, for you swooped on the spoil, and you did wrong in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰And Saul said to Samuel, “I maintain that I have obeyed the Lord, and I went on the way which the Lord sent me, and I led Agag king of the Amalekites captive, and I obliterated the Amalekites. ²¹But the people took sheep and oxen from the spoil – the firstlings of the condemned animals to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²²Then Samuel said,

“The Lord's pleasure in the offering of sacrifices

Is as that of obeying the Lord's voice.

Look, to obey is better than a sacrifice,

And heeding him is better than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

And stubbornness is as the wickedness of amulets.

Since you have rejected the word of the Lord,

He has rejected you as king.”

²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the utterance of the Lord and your words, for I feared the people and I obeyed them. ²⁵So now, please forgive my sin, and turn back with me, and I will worship the Lord.” ²⁶But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not turn back with you, for you rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” ²⁷Then when Samuel turned to depart, he grasped the hem of his coat, and it tore. ²⁸Then Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and he has given it to a compatriot of yours who is better than you. ²⁹And moreover the perpetual one of Israel will not lie and will not relent, for he is not a man to relent.” ³⁰Then he said, “I have sinned. Now honour me, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and turn back with me, and I will worship the Lord your God.” ³¹Then Samuel turned back to Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord. ³²And Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.” Then Agag came to him winsomely, and Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death has gone.” ³³But Samuel said,

“As your sword has bereaved women,

So your mother will be bereaved among women.”

And Samuel hacked 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 did not see Saul any more up to the day of his death, for Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted having made Saul king over Israel.

Reference(s) in Chapter 15: v.22 ↔ Mark 12:33.