I Samuel 15 · שמואל א

And Shemu᾽el said to Sha᾽ul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Yisra᾽el: now therefore hearken to the voice of the words of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, I remember that which ῾Amaleq did to Yisra᾽el, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Miżrayim.

Now go and smite ῾Amaleq, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

And Sha᾽ul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Tela’im two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Yehuda.

And Sha᾽ul came to a city of ῾Amaleq, and laid wait in the valley.

And Sha᾽ul said to the Qeni, Go, depart, go down from among the ῾Amaleqi, lest I destroy thee with them: for thou hast shown kindness to all the children of Yisra᾽el, when they came up out of Miżrayim. So the Qeni departed from among ῾Amaleq.

And Sha᾽ul smote ῾Amaleq from Ḥavila until the approach to Shur, that is over against Miżrayim.

And he took Agag the king of ῾Amaleq alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

But Sha᾽ul and the people had pity on Agag, and on the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was of little value and weak, they destroyed utterly.

Then came the word of the Lord to Shemu᾽el saying,

I regret that I have set up Sha᾽ul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and he has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Shemu᾽el; and he cried to the Lord all night.

And when Shemu᾽el rose early to meet Sha᾽ul in the morning, it was told Shemu᾽el, saying, Sha᾽ul came to Karmel, and, behold, he set him up a monument, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.

And Shemu᾽el came to Sha᾽ul: and Sha᾽ul said to him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

And Shemu᾽el said, What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

And Sha᾽ul said, They have brought them from the ῾Amaleqi: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Then Shemu᾽el said to Sha᾽ul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on.

And Shemu᾽el said, Though thou wast little in thy own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Yisra᾽el, and the Lord anointed thee king over Yisra᾽el?

And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy those sinners, the men of ῾Amaleq, and fight against them until they are consumed.

Why then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst do evil in the sight of the Lord?

And Sha᾽ul said to Shemu᾽el, Indeed, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone along the road which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of ῾Amaleq, and have utterly destroyed ῾Amaleq.

But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted property, to sacrifice to the Lord thy God in Gilgal.

And Shemu᾽el said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is like idolatry and terafim. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord he has also rejected thee from being king.

And Sha᾽ul said to Shemu᾽el, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, and I will bow down to the Lord.

And Shemu᾽el said to Sha᾽ul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected thee from being king over Yisra᾽el.

And as Shemu᾽el turned about to go away, he laid hold of the corner of his robe, and it tore.

And Shemu᾽el said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Yisra᾽el from thee this day, and has given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

And also the Eternal One of Yisra᾽el will not lie nor change his mind: for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.

Then he said, I have sinned: yet do me honour now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Yisra᾽el, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God.

So Shemu᾽el turned again after Sha᾽ul; and Sha᾽ul worshipped the Lord.

Then said Shemu᾽el, Bring here to me Agag the king of ῾Amaleq. And Agag came to him in chains. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

And Shemu᾽el said, As thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Shemu᾽el hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

Then Shemu᾽el went to Rama; and Sha᾽ul went up to his house to Giv῾a of Sha᾽ul.

And Shemu᾽el came no more to see Sha᾽ul until the day of his death: nevertheless Shemu᾽el mourned for Sha᾽ul and the Lord repented that he had made Sha᾽ul king over Yisra᾽el.