THE FIRST BOOK OF
SAMUEL,
1 Samuel 15 ©
Samuel commands Saul to destroy the Amalekites, v. 2, etc. Saul musters his men, which are two hundred thousand and ten thousand strong, 4. He commands the Kenites to depart from Amalek, 6. Saul slays the Amalekites, but spares the king, and the best of the goods, 7. This displeases the Lord exceedingly, 11. Samuel reproves Saul, and tells him, (notwithstanding his excuses and acknowledgement of guilt) that God had taken away the kingdom from him, for his unthankfulness and disobedience, 14. The rent of Samuel’s mantle signifies that the kingdom was rent from Saul, 27. God cannot lie, 29. Samuel hews Agag the king of the Amalekites in pieces, 33. Goes home, and mourns for Saul, 34.
SAMUEL also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Ia1remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
Now go and smite Amalek, and 2utterly 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 Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in 3Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
And Saul came to 4a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
¶And Saul said unto the Kenites,b5Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, 6lest I destroy you with them: forc7ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
And Saul smote the Amalekites from 8Havilah until thou comest to 9Shur, that is over against Egypt.
And he took 10Agagd the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Saul and the people 11spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the 12fatlings,e and the 13lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and 14refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
¶Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
15It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed 16my commandments. 17And it 18grieved Samuel; and 19he cried unto the LORD all night.
And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was 20told Samuel, saying, Saul came to 21Carmel, and, behold, he set him up 22a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have 23performed the commandment of the LORD.
And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the 24best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and 25the rest we have utterly destroyed.
Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
And Samuel said, 26When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD 27anointed thee king over Israel?
And the LORD sent thee 28on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy 29the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, 30but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
31But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, 32the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obeyfis better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
For rebellion 33is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as 34iniquity and 35idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
¶And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the 36commandment 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, that I may worship the LORD.
And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
And as Samuel turned about to go away, 37he laid hold upon the 38skirt of his mantle, and 39it rent.
And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
And also the 40Strength of Israel will not lie nor 41repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.
Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, 42before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.
So Samuel 43turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.
¶Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him 44delicately. And Agag 45said, 46Surely the bitterness of death is past.
And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. 47And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
¶Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
And Samuel 48came no more to see Saul 49until the day of his death: 50nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.