Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice

13 Saul ^[a]reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, ² Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in ^(A)Michmash and in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with ^(B)Jonathan in ^(C)Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent.

³ And Jonathan attacked ^(D)the garrison of the Philistines that was in ^(E)Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴ Now all Israel heard it said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had also become ^[b]an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal.

⁵ Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, ^[c]thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people ^(F)as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of ^(G)Beth Aven. ⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people ^(H)hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. ⁷ And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the ^(I)land of Gad and Gilead.

As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. ^8 (J)Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. ⁹ So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might ^[d]greet him.

¹¹ And Samuel said, “What have you done?”

Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ¹² then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”

¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, ^(K)“You have done foolishly. ^(L)You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ^14 (M)But now your kingdom shall not continue. ^(N)The Lord has sought for Himself a man ^(O)after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have ^(P)not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

¹⁵ Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of ^[e]Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people present with him, ^(Q)about six hundred men.

No Weapons for the Army

¹⁶ Saul, Jonathan his son, and the people present with them remained in ^[f]Gibeah of Benjamin. But the Philistines encamped in Michmash. ¹⁷ Then raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned onto the road to ^(R)Ophrah, to the land of Shual, ¹⁸ another company turned to the road to ^(S)Beth Horon, and another company turned to the road of the border that overlooks the Valley of ^(T)Zeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹ Now ^(U)there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” ²⁰ But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man’s plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; ²¹ and the charge for a sharpening was a ^[g]pim for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads. ²² So it came about, on the day of battle, that ^(V)there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.

^23 (W)And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

Saul Spares King Agag

15 Samuel also said to Saul, ^(A)“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, ^(B)how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. ³ Now go and ^(C)attack^[a] Amalek, and ^(D)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.’ ”

⁴ So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵ And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.

⁶ Then Saul said to ^(E)the Kenites, ^(F)“Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For ^(G)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 (H)And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from ^(I)Havilah all the way to ^(J)Shur, which is east of Egypt. ^8 (K)He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and ^(L)utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the people ^(M)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.

Saul Rejected as King

¹⁰ Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ^11 (N)“I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has ^(O)turned back from following Me, ^(P)and has not performed My commandments.” And it ^(Q)grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹² So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to ^(R)Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.” ¹³ Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, ^(S)“Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”

¹⁴ But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”

¹⁵ And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; ^(T)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.”

¹⁶ Then 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.”

¹⁷ So Samuel said, ^(U)“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? ¹⁸ 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 ^[b]consumed.’ ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the ^[c]spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”

²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, ^(V)“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. ^21 (W)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.”

²² So Samuel said:

^24 (AA)Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I ^(AB)feared the people and obeyed their voice. ²⁵ Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”

²⁶ But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, ^(AC)for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

²⁷ And as Samuel turned around to go away, ^(AD)Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ So Samuel said to him, ^(AE)“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. ²⁹ And also the Strength of Israel ^(AF)will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”

³⁰ Then he said, “I have sinned; yet ^(AG)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.” ³¹ So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

³² Then 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.”

³³ But Samuel said, ^(AH)“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.

³⁴ Then Samuel went to ^(AI)Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at ^(AJ)Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵ And ^(AK)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.