15Samuel also said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD.H8050H559H7586H3068H7971H4886H4428H5971H3478H8085H6963H1697H30682"Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.H559H3068H6635H6485H6002H6213H3478H7760H1870H5927H47143'Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"H3212H5221H6002H2763H2550H4191H376H802H5768H3243H7794H7716H1581H25434So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.H7586H8085H5971H8085H6485H2923H3967H505H7273H6235H505H376H30635And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.H7586H935H5892H6002H7378H693H51586Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, get 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.H7586H559H7017H3212H5493H3381H8432H6002H622H6213H2617H1121H3478H5927H4714H7017H5493H8432H60037And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.H7586H5221H6002H2341H935H7793H6440H47148He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.H8610H90H4428H6002H2416H2763H5971H6310H27199But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.H7586H5971H2550H90H4315H6629H1241H4932H3733H2896H14H2763H4399H5240H4549H276310Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,H1697H3068H8050H55911"I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.H5162H4427H7586H4428H7725H310H6965H1697H2734H8050H2199H3068H391512So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal."H8050H7925H7125H7586H1242H5046H8050H559H7586H935H3760H5324H3027H5437H5674H3381H153713Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD."H8050H935H7586H7586H559H1288H3068H6965H1697H306814But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"H8050H559H6963H6629H241H6963H1241H808515And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed."H7586H559H935H6003H5971H2550H4315H6629H1241H2076H3068H430H3498H276316Then Samuel said to Saul, "Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak on."H8050H559H7586H7503H5046H3068H1696H3915H559H169617So Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel?H8050H559H6996H5869H7218H7626H3478H3068H4886H4428H347818"Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.'H3068H7971H1870H559H3212H2763H2400H6002H3898H361519"Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?"H8085H6963H3068H5860H7998H6213H7451H5869H306820And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.H7586H559H8050H8085H6963H3068H3212H1870H3068H7971H935H90H4428H6002H2763H600221"But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."H5971H3947H7998H6629H1241H7225H2764H2076H3068H430H153722Then 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 heed than the fat of rams.H8050H559H3068H2656H5930H2077H8085H6963H3068H8085H2896H2077H7181H2459H35223For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king."H4805H2403H7081H6484H205H8655H3988H1697H3068H3988H442824Then 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.H7586H559H8050H2398H5674H6310H3068H1697H3372H5971H8085H696325"Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD."H5375H2403H7725H7812H306826But 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."H8050H559H7586H7725H3988H1697H3068H3068H3988H4428H347827And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.H8050H5437H3212H2388H3671H4598H716728So Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.H8050H559H3068H7167H4468H3478H3117H5414H7453H289629"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent."H5331H3478H8266H5162H120H516230Then he said, "I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God."H559H2398H3513H2205H5971H3478H7725H7812H3068H43031So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.H8050H7725H310H7586H7586H7812H306832Then Samuel said, "Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me." So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past."H559H8050H5066H90H4428H6002H90H3212H4574H90H559H403H4751H4194H549333But Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.H8050H559H2719H802H7921H517H7921H802H8050H8158H90H8158H6440H3068H153734Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.H8050H3212H7414H7586H5927H1004H1390H758635And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.H8050H3254H7200H7586H3117H4194H3588H8050H56H7586H3068H5162H7586H4427H3478
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