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¹ And Samuel said to Saul, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore listen to the voice of the words of Yahweh.² Thus says Yahweh of hosts, I have remembered that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.³ Now go and smite Amalek, and completely destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.⁴ And Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.⁵ And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.⁶ And Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, or else I will destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.⁷ And Saul smote the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt.⁸ And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and completely destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.⁹ But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and the oxen, and the seconds, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not completely destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed completely.

¹⁰ Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying,¹¹ It repents 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 Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.¹² And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, look, he set up for himself a monument, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.¹³ And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, Blessed be you of Yahweh: I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.¹⁴ And Samuel said, What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?¹⁵ And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God; and the rest we have completely destroyed.¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on.¹⁷ And Samuel said, Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Yahweh anointed you king over Israel;¹⁸ and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, Go, and completely destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.¹⁹ Why then didn't you obey the voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh?²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have completely destroyed the Amalekites.²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.²² And Samuel said, Does Yahweh have as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Look, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.²³ For rebellion is as the sin of fortune-telling, and stubbornness is as idolatry and talismans. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king.

²⁴ And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.²⁵ Now therefore, I pray you, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh.²⁶ And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.²⁷ And as Samuel turned about to go away, [Saul] laid hold on the skirt of his robe, and it rent.²⁸ And Samuel said to him, Yahweh has rent the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, that is better than you.²⁹ And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not man, that he should repent.³⁰ Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, I pray you, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.³¹ So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh.

³² Then Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.³³ And Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel cut Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal.³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.³⁵ And Samuel didn't come to see Saul anymore until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and Yahweh repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.