1 Samuel 15:13-26

English Standard Version

¹³And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, ^(A)“Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” ¹⁴And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” ¹⁵Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, ^(B)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, ^(C)“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? ^(D)Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰And Saul said to Samuel, ^(E)“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^(F)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,

^(G)“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
    as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, ^(H)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 ^(I)idolatry.
Because ^(J)you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    ^(K)he has also rejected you from being king.”

²⁴Saul said to Samuel, ^(L)“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 ^(M)return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” ²⁶And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. ^(N)For you have rejected the word of the Lord, ^(O)and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”