Chapter
1 Samuel 15

Book of 1 Samuel - Chapter 15

1 Samuel 15:1

Samuel said to Saul, "the LORD sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the words of the LORD.

1 Samuel 15:2

Thus says the LORD of Armies, 'I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.

1 Samuel 15:3

Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"

1 Samuel 15:4

Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.

1 Samuel 15:5

Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.

1 Samuel 15:6

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.

1 Samuel 15:7

Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt.

1 Samuel 15:8

He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

1 Samuel 15:9

But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the cattle, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and wouldn't utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

1 Samuel 15:10

Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,

1 Samuel 15:11

"It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments." Samuel was angry; and he cried to the LORD all night.

1 Samuel 15:12

Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal."

1 Samuel 15:13

Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, "You are blessed by the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD."

1 Samuel 15:14

Samuel said, "Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?"

1 Samuel 15:15

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 the LORD your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest."

1 Samuel 15:16

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stay, and I will tell you what the LORD has said to me last night." He said to him, "Say on."

1 Samuel 15:17

Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? the LORD anointed you king over Israel;

1 Samuel 15:18

and the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.'

1 Samuel 15:19

Why then didn't you obey the voice of the LORD, but took the spoils, and did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

1 Samuel 15:20

Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 15:21

But the people took of the spoil, sheep and cattle, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."

1 Samuel 15:22

Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

1 Samuel 15:23

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."

1 Samuel 15:24

Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

1 Samuel 15:25

Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD."

1 Samuel 15:26

Samuel 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."

1 Samuel 15:27

As Samuel turned about to go away, Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore.

1 Samuel 15:28

Samuel 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.

1 Samuel 15:29

Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent."

1 Samuel 15:30

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 the LORD your God."

1 Samuel 15:31

So Samuel went back with Saul; and Saul worshiped the LORD.

1 Samuel 15:32

Then Samuel said, "Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites!" Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past."

1 Samuel 15:33

Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!" Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

1 Samuel 15:34

Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.

1 Samuel 15:35

Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.

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