1 Samuel 15:15-30

English Standard Version

¹⁵Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, ^(A)for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” ¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

¹⁷And Samuel said, ^(B)“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? ^(C)Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰And Saul said to Samuel, ^(D)“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. ²¹^(E)But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²²And Samuel said,

^(F)“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
    as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, ^(G)to obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to listen than the fat of rams.
²³For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
    and presumption is as iniquity and ^(H)idolatry.
Because ^(I)you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    ^(J)he has also rejected you from being king.”

²⁴Saul said to Samuel, ^(K)“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. ²⁵Now therefore, please pardon my sin and ^(L)return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” ²⁶And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. ^(M)For you have rejected the word of the Lord, ^(N)and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” ²⁷^(O)As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸And Samuel said to him, ^(P)“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. ²⁹And also the Glory of Israel ^(Q)will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” ³⁰Then he said, “I have sinned; yet ^(R)honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, ^(S)and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.”