1 Samuel 15

The Lord Rejects Saul

1Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over His people, over Israel. # 1Sa 9:16; 10:1 Now therefore listen to the voice of the words of the Lord. 2Thus says the Lord of Hosts, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, # Ex 17:8–16; Dt 25:17–19 how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3Now go and strike Amalek, # Nu 24:20 and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not have compassion on them but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ” # Dt 20:16–18

4So Saul summoned the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5Then Saul came to the city of Amalek and laid an ambush in the valley. 6Saul said to the Kenites, # Ex 18:19; Jdg 1:16 “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

7Then Saul struck the Amalekites from Havilah until you come to Shur, # Ge 16:7; 25:18 which is near Egypt. 8He took Agag the king of the Amalekites # Nu 24:7; 1Sa 30:1 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, oxen, fatlings, and lambs. # 1Sa 15:3, 15 And of all that was good, they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But everything that was despised and weak, that they completely destroyed.

10Then came the word of the Lord to Samuel, saying, 11“I regret # Ge 6:6 that I have set up Saul to be king because he has turned back from following Me, and he has not carried out My words.” # 1Sa 13:13 And it grieved Samuel, and he cried to the Lord all night.

12When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, # Jos 15:55; 1Sa 25:2 and behold, he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned and has passed on down to Gilgal.”

13Samuel came to Saul. And Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord. # Ge 14:19; Jdg 17:2 I have carried out the word of the Lord.”

14Samuel said, “Then what is the sound of this flock of sheep in my ears? And the sound of the cattle which I am hearing?”

15And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” # 1Sa 15:9, 21

16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop, and I will tell you what the Lord spoke to me this night.”

And he said to him, “Speak.”

17Samuel said, “When you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, # 1Sa 9:21 and 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 destroyed.’ 19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? And why did you rush upon the spoil # 1Sa 14:32 and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”

20And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. # 1Sa 15:13 And I have followed in 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 from the plunder sheep and oxen, the firstfruits of the banned things to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” # Ex 32:22–23; 1Sa 15:15

22Samuel said,

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice,

a listening ear than the fat of rams. # Jer 7:22–23; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6–8

23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,

and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

He has also rejected you from being king.” # 1Sa 13:14

24Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, # 2Sa 12:13 and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. # Pr 29:25 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin # Ex 10:17 and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”

26Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” # 1Sa 13:14; 16:1

27As Samuel turned about to go, he seized the edge of his robe and it tore. 28Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. # 1Sa 28:17–18 29Also the Strength of Israel will not lie or repent, for He is not a man, that He should repent.” # Nu 23:19; Eze 24:14; Titus 1:2

30Then he said, “I have sinned, yet please honor me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn back with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” # Jn 5:44; 12:43 31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.

32Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag the king of the Amalekites.”

And Agag came to him reluctantly. But Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

33Samuel said,

“As your sword has made women childless,

so will your mother be childless among women.” # Ge 9:6; Jdg 1:7

And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. # 1Sa 11:4 35Now Samuel did not see Saul up to the day of his death. But Samuel mourned for Saul and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. # 1Sa 15:11

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