1 Samuel 15:5-14

Amplified Bible

⁵ Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. ⁶ Saul said to the ^[a]Kenites, “Go, leave, go down from the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they went up from Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. ⁷ Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸ He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, though he totally destroyed all [the rest of] the people with the sword. ⁹ Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and everything that was good, and they were not willing to destroy them entirely; but everything that was undesirable or worthless they destroyed completely.

Samuel Rebukes Saul

¹⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ¹¹ “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” Samuel was angry [over Saul’s failure] and he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹² When Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul, he was told, “Saul came to ^[b]Carmel, and behold, he set up for himself a monument [commemorating his victory], then he turned and went on and went down to Gilgal.” ¹³ So Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord. I have carried out the command 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?”