1. One day Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now listen to his message.
2. The Lord All-Powerful says: ‘When the Israelites came out of Egypt, the Amalekites tried to stop them from going to Canaan. I saw what the Amalekites did.
3. Now go fight against the Amalekites. You must completely destroy the Amalekites and everything that belongs to them. Don’t let anything live; you must kill all the men and women and all of their children and little babies. You must kill all of their cattle and sheep and all of their camels and donkeys.’”
4. Saul gathered the army together at Telaim. There were 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 other men, including the men from Judah.
5. Then Saul went to the city of Amalek and waited in the valley.
6. He said to the Kenites, “Go away! Leave the Amalekites. Then I won’t destroy you with the Amalekites. You showed kindness to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.” So the Kenites left the Amalekites.