10. Then the Lord gave Samuel a message. He said,
11. "I am very sorry I have made Saul king. He has turned away from me. He has not done what I directed him to do." When Samuel heard that, he was troubled. He cried out to the Lord during that whole night.
12. Early the next morning Samuel got up. He went to see Saul. But Samuel was told, "Saul went to Carmel. There he set up a monument in his own honor. Now he has gone on down to Gilgal."
13. When Samuel got there, Saul said, "May the Lord bless you. I've done what he directed me to do."
14. But Samuel said, "Then why do I hear the baaing of sheep? Why do I hear the mooing of cattle?"
15. Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites. They spared the best of the sheep and cattle. They did it to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. But we totally destroyed everything else."
16. "Stop!" Samuel said to Saul. "Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night." "Tell me," Saul replied.
17. Samuel said, "There was a time when you didn't think you were important. But you became the leader of the tribes of Israel. The Lord anointed you to be king over Israel.
18. He sent you to do something for him. He said, 'Go and set the Amalekites apart. Set those sinful people apart to me in a special way to be destroyed. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.'
19. "Why didn't you obey the Lord? Why did you grab what you had taken from your enemies? Why did you do what is evil in the sight of the Lord?"
20. "But I did obey the Lord," Saul said. "I went to do what he sent me to do. I totally destroyed the Amalekites. I brought back Agag, their king.
21. "The soldiers took sheep and cattle from what had been taken from our enemies. They took the best of what had been set apart to God. They wanted to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal."
22. But Samuel replied, "What pleases the Lord more? Burnt offerings and sacrifices, or obeying him? It is better to obey than to offer a sacrifice. It is better to do what he says than to offer the fat of rams.