He waited seven(A) days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered(B) up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel(C) arrived, and Saul went out to greet(D) him.

11 “What have you done?” asked Samuel.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash,(E) 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal,(F) and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.(G)’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

13 “You have done a foolish thing,(H)” Samuel said. “You have not kept(I) the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.(J) 14 But now your kingdom(K) will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart(L) and appointed(M) him ruler(N) of his people, because you have not kept(O) the Lord’s command.”

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22 But Samuel replied:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,(A)
    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

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23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,(A)
    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected(B) the word of the Lord,
    he has rejected you as king.”

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As at Adam,[a] they have broken the covenant;(A)
    they were unfaithful(B) to me there.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 6:7 Or Like Adam; or Like human beings

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.(A) 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools(B) 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images(C) made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over(D) in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.(E) 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie,(F) and worshiped and served created things(G) rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.(H) Amen.(I)

26 Because of this, God gave them over(J) to shameful lusts.(K) Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.(L) 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.(M)

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over(N) to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,(O) 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;(P) 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love,(Q) no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,(R) they not only continue to do these very things but also approve(S) of those who practice them.

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