15
Saul’s army defeated the Amalekites
1 One day Samuel said to Saul, “Yahweh sent me to appoint you to be the king of the Israeli people. So now listen to this message from Yahweh:
2 Yahweh, the commander of the armies of angels has declared this: ‘I am going to punish the descendants of Amalek for attacking the Israeli people after the Israelis left Egypt.
3 So now go with your army and attack the Amalek people-group. Destroy them completely—destroy them and everything that belongs to them—the men and women, their children and infants, their cattle and sheep and camels and donkeys. Do not ◄spare any of them/allow any of them to remain alive►!’ ”
4 So Saul summoned the army, and they gathered at Telaim town. There were 200,000 soldiers. 10,000 of them were from Judah, and the others were from the other Israeli tribes.
5 Then Saul went with his army to a town where some of the Amalek people-group lived. His army prepared to attack them suddenly by hiding in the valley.
6 Then Saul sent this message to the Ken people-group who lived in that area: “You acted kindly toward all our Israeli ancestors when they left Egypt. But we are going to kill all of the Amalek people-group, because they opposed/attacked our ancestors. So move away from where the Amalek people-group live. If you do not move away, you will be killed when they are killed.” So when the Ken people-group heard that, they immediately left that area.
7 Then Saul’s army slaughtered the Amalek people-group, from Havilah town in the east to Shur town in the west. Shur was at the border between Israel and Egypt.
8 Saul’s army captured Agag, the king of the Amalek people-group, but they killed everyone else.
9 They not only ◄spared/did not kill► Agag, but they also took the best sheep and goats and cattle. They took everything that was good. They destroyed only the animals that they considered to be worthless.
Yahweh rejected Saul as king
10 Then Yahweh said to Samuel,
11 “I am sorry that I appointed Saul to be your king, because he has turned away from me and has not obeyed what I commanded him to do.” Samuel was very disturbed/upset when he heard that, and he cried out to Yahweh all that night.
12 Early the next morning, Samuel got up and went to talk with Saul. But someone told Samuel, “Saul went to Camel city, where he has set up a monument to honor himself. Now he has left there and gone down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel arrived at Gilgal he approached Saul, and Saul said to him,, “I wish/desire that Yahweh will bless you! I have obeyed what Yahweh told me to do.”
14 But Samuel replied, “If that is true, why is it that I hear cattle mooing and I hear sheep bleating?”
15 Saul replied, “The soldiers took them from the Amalek people-group. They saved the best sheep and cattle, in order to offer them as sacrifices to Yahweh, your God. But we have completely destroyed all the others.”
16 Samuel said to Saul, “Stop talking! Allow me to tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.”
Saul replied, “Tell me what he said.”
17 Samuel said, “Previously you did not think that you were important. But now you have become [RHQ] the leader of the tribes of Israel. Yahweh appointed you to be their king.
18 And Yahweh sent you to do something for him. He said to you, ‘Go and get rid of all those sinful people, the Amalek people-group. Attack them and kill all of them.’
19 So why did you not obey Yahweh [RHQ]? Why did your men take the best animals [RHQ]? Why did you do what Yahweh said was evil?” [RHQ]
20 Saul replied to Samuel, “Hey, I did what Yahweh sent me to do! I brought back King Agag, but we killed everyone else!
21 My men brought back only the best sheep and cattle and other things, in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God here at Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel replied,
“Which do you think pleases Yahweh more, animals that are completely burned on the altar and other sacrifices,
or people obeying him [SYN]?
It is better to obey Yahweh than to offer sacrifices to him.
It is better to pay attention to what he says than to burn the fat of rams, even though God said they should be sacrificed to him.
23 To rebel against God is as sinful as doing sorcery/black magic,
and being stubborn is as sinful as worshiping idols.
So, because you disobeyed what Yahweh told you to do,
he has declared that you will no longer be king.”
Saul asks to be forgiven
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “Yes, I have sinned. I disobeyed what you told me to do, which is what Yahweh commanded. I did that because I was ◄afraid of/worried about► what my men would say if I did not do what they wanted. So I did what they demanded.
25 But now, please forgive me for having sinned. And come back with me to where the people are in order that I may worship Yahweh.”
26 But Samuel replied, “No, I will not go back with you. You have rejected/disobeyed what Yahweh commanded you to do. So he has rejected you, and declared that you will no longer be the king of Israel. So I do not want to talk any more with you.”
27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul tried to stop him by grabbing the edge of Samuel’s robe, and it tore.
28 Samuel said to him, “You tore my robe! And today Yahweh has torn away from you the kingdom of Israel! He will appoint someone else to be king, someone who is a better man than you are.
29 And since the one who is the glorious God of the Israeli people does not lie, he will not change ◄his mind/what he has said►. Humans sometimes change their minds, but God does not do that, because he is not a human.”
30 Then Saul pleaded again. He said, “I know that I have sinned. But please honor me in front of the leaders of the Israeli people and in front of all the other Israeli people by coming back to them with me in order that I may worship Yahweh your God.”
31 So Samuel finally agreed to do that, and they went together back to where the people were, and Saul worshiped Yahweh there.
Samuel executed King Agag
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring King Agag to me.” So they brought Agag to him. Agag was confidently expecting that they would spare him/not kill him. He was thinking, “Surely I will not have to endure an agonizing death!”
33 But Samuel said to him,
“You have killed the sons of many women with your sword,
so now your mother will no longer have a son.”
And Samuel cut Agag into pieces with his sword, there at Gilgal, in the presence of Yahweh.
34 Then Samuel left there and returned to his home in Ramah, and Saul went to his home in Gibeah.
35 Samuel never saw Saul again, but he was very sad about what Saul had done. And Yahweh was very sorry that he had appointed Saul to be the king of Israel.