²⁰ “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else.

¹³ When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. “May the Lord bless you,” he said. “I have carried out the Lord’s command!”

³ For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.

¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer^[a]: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector!

²⁹ The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

²⁰ “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”