17. Samuel said, “When you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel?
18. And the Lord sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are destroyed.’
19. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? And why did you rush upon the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20. And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. And I have followed in the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21. But the people took from the plunder sheep and oxen, the first fruits of the banned things to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22. Samuel said, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrificesas much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?Obedience is better than sacrifice,a listening ear than the fat of rams.
23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,He has also rejected you from being king.”
24. Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. For I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
25. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
26. Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27. As Samuel turned about to go, he seized the edge of his robe and it tore.
28. Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
29. Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent. For He is not a man, that He should repent.”
30. Then he said, “I have sinned, yet please honor me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn back with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.”
31. So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
32. Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag the king of the Amalekites.”And Agag came to him reluctantly. But Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33. Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless,so will your mother be childless among women.”And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
34. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
35. Now Samuel did not see Saul up to the day of his death. But Samuel mourned for Saul and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.