1. And Shemu’ĕl said to Sha’ul, “יהוה sent me to anoint you sovereign over His people, over Yisra’ĕl. And now, listen to the voice of the words of יהוה.
2. “Thus said יהוה of hosts, ‘I shall punish Amalĕq for what he did to Yisra’ĕl, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up from Mitsrayim.
3. ‘Now go, and you shall smite Amalĕq and put under the ban all that he has, and you shall not spare them, and put to death from man to woman, from infant to nursing child, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey.’ ”
4. Then Sha’ul summoned the people and mustered them in Tela’im, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Yehuḏah.
5. And Sha’ul came to a city of Amalĕq, and lay in wait in the wadi.
6. And Sha’ul said to the Qĕynites, “Go, turn aside, come down from among the Amalĕqites, lest I destroy you with them. For you did show kindness to all the children of Yisra’ĕl when they came up out of Mitsrayim.” So the Qĕynites turned aside from the midst of the Amalĕqites.
7. And Sha’ul smote the Amalĕqites, from Ḥawilah all the way to Shur, which is before Mitsrayim.
8. And he caught Ag̅ag̅ sovereign of the Amalĕqites alive, and put under the ban all the people with the edge of the sword.
9. But Sha’ul and the people spared Ag̅ag̅ and the best of the sheep, and the cattle, and the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not put them under the ban. But all goods despised and worthless, that they put under the ban.
10. And the word of יהוה came to Shemu’ĕl, saying,
11. “I am grieved that I have set up Sha’ul as sovereign, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My words.” And it displeased Shemu’ĕl, and he cried to יהוה all night.
12. And Shemu’ĕl rose early in the morning to meet Sha’ul, and it was told to Shemu’ĕl, saying, “Sha’ul went to Karmel, and see, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and passed over, and went down to Gilgal.”
13. And Shemu’ĕl came to Sha’ul, and Sha’ul said to him, “Blessed are you of יהוה! I have performed the word of יהוה.”
14. But Shemu’ĕl said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear?”
15. And Sha’ul said, “They have brought them from Amalĕq, because the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to slaughter to יהוה your Elohim. And the rest we have put under the ban.”