1 Samuel 15:17-26

English Standard Version

¹⁷And Samuel said, ^(A)“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? ^(B)Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰And Saul said to Samuel, ^(C)“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^(D)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,

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

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