CHAPTER 15
1 And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me, that I should anoint thee into king on his people Israel; now therefore hear thou the voice of the Lord.
2 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I have brought to mind what-ever things Amalek hath done to Israel; how Amalek against-stood Israel in the way, when Israel went up from Egypt.
3 Now therefore go thou, and slay Amalek, and destroy thou all his things; spare thou not him, nor covet thou anything of his things; but slay thou from man unto woman, and little child, and sucking, ox, and sheep, and camel, and ass.
4 And so Saul commanded the people to be gathered together, and he numbered them as lambs, two hundred thousand of footmen, and ten thousand of men of Judah.
5 And when Saul came to the city of Amalek, he made ready ambush-ments in the dry bed of the strand [or stream].
6 And Saul said to Kenites, Go ye, depart ye, and go ye away from Amalek, lest peradventure I wrap thee in with them; for thou didest mercy with all the sons of Israel, when they went up from Egypt. And Kenites departed from the midst of Amalek.
7 And Saul smote Amalek, from Havilah, till thou come to Shur, which is even against Egypt.
8 And Saul took Agag alive, the king of Amalek; and he killed by sharpness of sword all the common people.
9 And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best flocks of sheep, and of great beasts, and clothes, and rams, and all things that were fair; and they would not destroy those [or them]; but whatever thing was vile, and reprovable, they destroyed that thing.
10 Forsooth the word of the Lord was made to Samuel, and said,
11 It repenteth me, that I made Saul king; for he hath forsaken me, and hath not fulfilled my words in work. And Samuel was sorry, and he cried to the Lord in all that night.
12 And when Samuel had risen up by night to go early to Saul, it was told to Samuel, that Saul had come into Carmel, and had raised up to him a sign of victory; and that he had turned again from Amalek, and had passed forth, and had gone down into Gilgal.
13 Then Samuel came to Saul, and Saul offered burnt sacrifice to the Lord of the chief things of the preys, which he had brought from Amalek. And the while Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have [ful] filled the word of the Lord.
14 And Samuel said, And what is this voice of flocks, that soundeth in mine ears, and of great beasts, which I hear?
15 And Saul said, They brought those from Amalek; for the people spared the best sheep and great beasts, that those should be offered to thy Lord God; and we killed the tother beasts.
16 And Samuel said to Saul, Suffer thou me, and I shall show to thee what things the Lord hath spoken to me in this night. And Saul said to Samuel, Speak thou.
17 And Samuel said, Whether not, when thou were little in thine own eyes, thou were made head in the lineages of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee into king on Israel;
18 and the Lord sent thee into the way, and said, Go thou, and slay the sinners of Amalek, and thou shalt fight against them till to the slaying of them.
19 Why therefore heardest thou not the voice of the Lord, but thou were turned to the prey, and didest evil in the eyes of the Lord?
20 And Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I heard the voice of the Lord, and I have gone in the way, by which the Lord sent me, and I have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I have killed Amalek.
21 Forsooth the people took of the prey, sheep and oxen, the first fruits or the chief fruits of those things that be slain, that they make sacrifice to their Lord God in Gilgal.
22 And Samuel said, Whether the Lord will or desireth burnt sacrifices, either slain sacrifices, and not more, rather, that men obey to the voice of the Lord? Forsooth obedience to him is better than sacrifices, and to take heed to his word is more than to offer the inner fatness of rams;
23 for it is as the sin of maumetry to fight against God’s behest, and it is as the wickedness of idolatry to not assent to God’s behest. Therefore for that, that thou castedest away the word of the Lord, the Lord casted thee away, that thou be not king.
24 And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have broken the word of the Lord, and thy words; and I dreaded the people, and obeyed to the voice of them;
25 but now, I beseech thee, bear thou my sin, and turn thou again with me, that I worship the Lord.
26 And Samuel said to Saul, I shall not turn again with thee, for thou castedest away the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath cast away thee, that thou be not king upon Israel.
27 And Samuel turned to go away; soothly Saul took the end of the mantle of Samuel, which also was rent.
28 And Samuel said to him, The Lord hath cut the realm of Israel from thee today, and he hath given it to thy neighbour, better than thou;
29 certainly the Overcomer in Israel shall not spare them that will not obey to him, and he shall not be bowed by repentance; for he is not man, that is, changeable, that he do repentance.
30 And Saul said, I have sinned; but now honour thou me before the elder men of my people, and before Israel, and turn thou again with me, that I worship thy Lord God.
31 Therefore Samuel turned again, and followed Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
32 And Samuel said, Bring ye to me Agag, the king of Amalek. And Agag, most fat and trembling, was brought to him. And Agag said, Whether thus departeth bitter death?
33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women without free children, so thy mother shall be without free children among women. And Samuel hewed Agag into gobbets before the Lord in Gilgal.
34 And Samuel went into Ramah; and Saul went up into his house in Gibeah.
35 And Samuel saw no more Saul unto the day of his death; nevertheless Samuel bewailed Saul, for it repented the Lord, that he had ordained Saul king upon Israel.