1. Samuel said to Saul, "The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. Listen now to the Lord’s words!
2. This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says: I am going to punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel: how they attacked the Israelites as they came up from Egypt.
3. So go! Attack the Amalekites; put everything that belongs to them under the ban. Spare no one. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys."
4. Saul called out the troops and counted them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand more troops from Judah.
5. Then Saul advanced on the Amalekite city and laid an ambush in the valley.
6. Saul told the Kenites, "Get going! Leave the Amalekites immediately because you showed kindness to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. Otherwise, I’ll destroy you right along with them." So the Kenites left the Amalekites.
7. Then Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is near Egypt.
8. He captured Agag the Amalekite king alive, but Saul placed all the people under the ban, killing them with the sword.
9. Saul and the troops spared Agag along with the best sheep, cattle, fattened calves, lambs, and everything of value. They weren’t willing to put them under the ban; but anything that was despised or of no value they placed under the ban.
10. Then the Lord’s word came to Samuel: