1 Samuel said to Saul, "It was I whom the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel. So now, listen to what the LORD says.
2 This is what the LORD of hosts says: 'I have taken account of what Amalek did to Israel, how he lay in wait for him on the road as he came up out of Egypt.
3 Go now and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction everything that is his. Do not spare him; kill men and women alike, children and babies at the breast, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'"
4 Saul summoned the troops and counted them at Telaim: two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine.
6 Saul told the Kenites, "Go, get away, go down from among the Amalekites, or I will sweep you away with them; for you dealt kindly with all the children of Israel as they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites moved away from among Amalek.
7 Saul struck Amalek from Havilah to the approach to Shur, east of Egypt.
8 He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, and all the people he devoted to destruction with the sword.
9 But Saul and the troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the second-year animals and the lambs, and everything that was good; they would not devote them to destruction. Anything that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel:
11 "I regret having made Saul king; he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my words." Samuel was angry and cried out to the LORD all night long.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up to meet Saul. Samuel was told, "Saul went to Carmel and set up a monument for himself there; then he turned and crossed over and went down to Gilgal."
13 Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by the LORD! I have carried out the LORD's word."
14 Samuel said, "Then what is this sound of sheep in my ears, and the sound of cattle that I hear?"
15 Saul said, "They brought them from the Amalekites. The troops spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we devoted to destruction."
16 Samuel told Saul, "Stop, and I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night." He told him, "Speak."
17 Samuel said, "Small as you may be in your own eyes, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.
18 The LORD sent you on your way and told you, 'Go and devote to destruction those sinners, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have finished them off.'
19 Why did you not obey the LORD's voice? Why did you swoop on the spoil and do evil in the LORD's sight?"
20 Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the LORD's voice! I went the way the LORD sent me; I brought back Agag king of Amalek, and Amalek I devoted to destruction.
21 The troops took some of the spoil, sheep and cattle, the best of what was devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
22 Samuel said, "Does the LORD take as much pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the LORD's voice? See, obeying is better than sacrifice, and paying heed than the fat of rams.
23 Rebellion is like the sin of divination, and presumption like iniquity and idolatry. Since you have rejected the LORD's word, he has rejected you as king."
24 Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I went against the LORD's command and your words, because I was afraid of the troops and listened to them.
25 Now, please, forgive my sin and come back with me, so I can bow down to the LORD."
26 Samuel said to Saul, "I will not go back with you, because you rejected the LORD's word, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel."
27 Samuel turned to leave, and Saul caught hold of the edge of his robe, and it ripped.
28 Samuel said to him, "Today the LORD has ripped the kingship of Israel from you and given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
29 Moreover, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not a man, to change his mind."
30 Saul said, "I have sinned. But honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so I can bow down to the LORD your God."
31 Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul bowed down to the LORD.
32 Samuel said, "Bring Agag king of Amalek to me." Agag came to him cheerfully, thinking, "Surely the bitterness of death has passed."
33 Samuel said, "As your sword has left women childless, so your mother will be childless among women." And Samuel cut Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his home at Gibeah of Saul.
35 Samuel never saw Saul again until the day he died, but Samuel mourned for Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.