The Amalekites Defeated

⁸ The Amalekites^(A) came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.^{(B) 9} Moses said to Joshua,^(C) “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff^(D) of God in my hands.”

¹⁰ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur^(E) went to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning,^(F) but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ¹² When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.^{(G) 13} So Joshua overcame the Amalekite^(H) army with the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write^(I) this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out^(J) the name of Amalek^(K) from under heaven.”

¹⁵ Moses built an altar^(L) and called^(M) it The Lord is my Banner. ¹⁶ He said, “Because hands were lifted up against^[a] the throne of the Lord,^[b] the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites^(N) from generation to generation.”^(O)

Balaam’s Fifth Message

²⁰ Then Balaam saw Amalek^(A) and spoke his message:

¹⁹ When the Lord your God gives you rest^(A) from all the enemies^(B) around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek^(C) from under heaven. Do not forget!

The Lord Rejects Saul as King

15 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint^(A) you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. ² This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites^(B) for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. ³ Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally^(C) destroy^[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

⁴ So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. ⁵ Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. ⁶ Then he said to the Kenites,^(D) “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

⁷ Then Saul attacked the Amalekites^(E) all the way from Havilah to Shur,^(F) near the eastern border of Egypt. ⁸ He took Agag^(G) king of the Amalekites alive,^(H) and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the army spared^(I) Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves^[b] and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

¹⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹ “I regret^(J) that I have made Saul king, because he has turned^(K) away from me and has not carried out my instructions.”^(L) Samuel was angry,^(M) and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

¹² Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel.^(N) There he has set up a monument^(O) in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

¹³ When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

¹⁴ But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

¹⁵ Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

¹⁶ “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

¹⁷ Samuel said, “Although you were once small^(P) in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ ¹⁹ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder^(Q) and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

²⁰ “But I did obey^(R) the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. ²¹ The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

²² But Samuel replied:

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned.^(V) I violated^(W) the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid^(X) of the men and so I gave in to them. ²⁵ Now I beg you, forgive^(Y) my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

²⁶ But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected^(Z) the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”

²⁷ As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe,^(AA) and it tore.^{(AB) 28} Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn^(AC) the kingdom^(AD) of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.^{(AE) 29} He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie^(AF) or change^(AG) his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

³⁰ Saul replied, “I have sinned.^(AH) But please honor^(AI) me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” ³¹ So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”

Agag came to him in chains.^[c] And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

³³ But Samuel said,

And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel left for Ramah,^(AK) but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah^(AL) of Saul.

David Destroys the Amalekites

30 David and his men reached Ziklag^(A) on the third day. Now the Amalekites^(B) had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned^(C) it, ² and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

³ When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.^{(D) 4} So David and his men wept^(E) aloud until they had no strength left to weep. ⁵ David’s two wives^(F) had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ⁶ David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning^(G) him; each one was bitter^(H) in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength^(I) in the Lord his God.

⁷ Then David said to Abiathar^(J) the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.^(K)” Abiathar brought it to him, ⁸ and David inquired^(L) of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”

“Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed^(M) in the rescue.^(N)”

⁹ David and the six hundred men^(O) with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. ¹⁰ Two hundred of them were too exhausted^(P) to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— ¹² part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived,^(Q) for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.

¹³ David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?”

He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite.^(R) My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. ¹⁴ We raided the Negev of the Kerethites,^(S) some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb.^(T) And we burned^(U) Ziklag.”

¹⁵ David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?”

He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master,^(V) and I will take you down to them.”

¹⁶ He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling^(W) because of the great amount of plunder^(X) they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. ¹⁷ David fought^(Y) them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.^{(Z) 18} David recovered^(AA) everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. ¹⁹ Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. ²⁰ He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”