The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Samuel 15
1 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 Yahweh’s words.
2 Yahweh of Armies says, ‘I remember
what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way when he came
up out of Egypt.
3 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly
destroy all that they have, and don’t spare
them; but killbothmanand 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.
5 Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set
an ambush in the valley.
6 Saul 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.
8 He took Agag the king ofthe Amalekites
alive, and utterly destroyed all the people
with the edge of the sword.
9 But 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 Yahweh’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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh! I
have performed the commandment of
Yahweh.”
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 Yahweh your God. We have
utterly destroyed the rest.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I
will tell you what Yahweh 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? Yahweh
anointed you king over Israel;
18 and Yahweh sent you on a journey,
and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the
sinners the Amalekites, and fight against
them until they are consumed.’
19 Why then didn’t you obey Yahweh’s
voice, but took the plunder, and did that
which was evil in Yahweh’s sight?”
20 Saul said to Samuel, “But I have
obeyed Yahweh’s voice, and have gone
the way which Yahweh sent me, and have
brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have
utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the plunder,
sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted
things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in
Gilgal.”
22 Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying Yahweh’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.† Because you have rejected
Yahweh’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
Yahweh and your words, because I feared
the people and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin,
and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh.”
26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return
with you; for you have rejected Yahweh’s
word, and Yahweh has rejected you from
being king over Israel.”
27 As Samuel turned around to go away,
Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it
tore.
28 Samuel said to him, “Yahweh has torn
the kingdom of Israel from you today, and
has given it to a neighbor of yours who is
better than you.
29 Also 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 Yahweh
your God.”
31 So Samuel went back with Saul; and
Saul worshiped Yahweh.
32 Then 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 Yahweh in Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul
went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
35 Samuel came no more to see Saul until
the day of his death, but Samuel mourned
for Saul. Yahwehgrieved thathehad made
Saul king over Israel.