Samuel said to Saul, "I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over Israel; now listen to the message from the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Go now, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys.'"
So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. He went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine.
Then he said to the Kenites, "Go away and leave the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you along with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt." The Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.
Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt. He took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive, but all the rest of the people he totally destroyed with the sword.
Yet Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep, cattle, fat calves, and lambs—everything that was good. Everything despised and weak they destroyed completely.
Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions." Samuel was troubled and cried out to the LORD all night.
Early the next morning, Samuel went to meet Saul. He was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has gone on down to Gilgal."
When Samuel reached Saul, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's instructions."
Samuel asked, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?"
Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we destroyed the rest completely."
"Stop!" Samuel said. "Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." "Tell me," Saul replied.
Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel and sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.' Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?"
"But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, to sacrifice to the LORD at Gilgal."
Samuel replied, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."
Saul said, "I have sinned. I violated the LORD's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and gave in to them. Now forgive my sin and come back with me, so I may worship the LORD."
But Samuel said, "I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!"
As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors, to one better than you. The Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind."
Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me so I may worship the LORD your God."
So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.
Then Samuel said, "Bring me Agag, king of the Amalekites." Agag came confidently, thinking, "Surely the bitterness of death is past." But Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." Samuel put Agag to death before the LORD at Gilgal.
Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.