15
Saul didn’t listen to God
1 One day, Samuel came to Saul and said, “Listen, Saul. God is the boss of everybody. He was the one that told me to pick you to be the big boss for his people the Israel mob. So listen to this message that he told me today.
2 He said, ‘A long time ago, as the grand-fathers of you Israel mob came from Egypt, the Amalek mob attacked them. They did wrong to my people. And now, I want to punish them.
3 So, Saul, I want you mob to go and kill the Amalek mob dead. Burn everything that belongs to them. Kill everything until there’s nothing left. Kill the men, women, kids, babies, bulls, cows, sheep, camels, and donkeys too. Kill everything. That’s the way you have to give them all to me.’ ”
4 So Saul sent messengers to every place, to tell the soldiers to meet together at a place called Telayim. Lots of soldiers came together at that place. There were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and 10,000 from Judah.
5 Then Saul led them to the town where the Amalek mob lived, and they went and hid in a gully nearby.
6 At that time the Ken mob lived in that country. Saul sent a messenger to them to say, “I want to finish up all the Amalek mob, so you Ken mob have to get out of the way. A long time ago, you mob helped us Israel mob, as we came from Egypt. So I can’t hurt you now.” So the Ken mob moved away from that place.
7 Then Saul and his men chased the Amalek mob from the place called Havilah in the east to the place called Shur in the west. Shur was half-way between Israel and Egypt.
8 Saul’s mob killed dead all the men, and the women and the kids. They finished them up properly. But they didn’t kill the boss of the Amalek mob, a man called Agag.
9 They kept him alive. They also kept a lot of the animals alive. They took all the good sheep and goats, and all the good cows and bulls, and their young ones too. They only killed the rubbish animals dead. They didn’t finish all the animals properly.
10 That day God said to that old man Samuel,
11 “Saul didn’t listen to me. He’s turned away from me. Now I’m sorry that I picked him to be the big boss.” Samuel heard that message, and he was very angry and upset. All night he talked to God about it.
12 Early the next morning, Samuel got up and went to look for Saul. Other people told him, “Saul isn’t here. He went to the place called Carmel. After he finished up the Amalek mob, he wanted everybody to think he was a great soldier, so he stood up a big stone there to remind them. Then he went to another place called Gilgal.”
13 Samuel went to Gilgal, and Saul said to him, “Samuel. I hope God makes you happy. I did everything he told me to do.”
14 But Samuel said, “Really? So how come I can hear animals crying? I can hear sheep, goats, cows and bulls.”
15 Saul answered, “It was the soldiers, they did that. They took the good animals that belonged to the Amalek mob. They kept them alive, to burn them for God. The other animals we finished properly.”
16 But Samuel said, “Stop talking, and listen carefully to me. God talked to me last night. Let me tell you about it.”
Saul said, “Yes, tell me.”
17 Samuel said, “At first you called yourself nothing. You didn’t try to be important. It was God that made you important. He picked you to be the big boss for the Israel mob.
18 And then he told you to kill all those bad Amalek people. He told you to finish them up properly.
19 So why didn’t you listen to him? Why did you do something that he said was wrong? You kept the best animals, so he is angry with you.”
20 Saul was confused. He said, “What? Truly I listened to God. I did everything he told me to do. I killed everybody dead. But I brought their boss Agag back alive.
21 The soldiers only brought back the good animals. They got the best sheep, goats, cows and bulls for you to burn for God here at Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel answered, “God wants people to listen to his word properly and do what he says. He doesn’t want us to do wrong things and then burn meat or fat to give it to him. He really likes it when we do what he says.
23 You know, if somebody doesn’t listen to God, that person truly does wrong. If somebody prays to bad spirits, it’s just the same. If somebody is proud, God is not happy with that person. If somebody shows respect to statues made of wood and stone, that’s just the same. And you didn’t listen to God, so he turned away from you. You did wrong things, so God says, ‘You can’t be the big boss any more.’ ”
24 Then Saul said, “I did wrong things. I didn’t listen to God or to you. I was afraid of the soldiers, and I listened only to them.
25 Please don’t be angry with me. Please forgive me. Don’t leave me now. Come back with me to the people. I want to get down on my knees and show respect to God.”
26 But Samuel said to him, “No. I can’t go back with you. You didn’t listen to God, so he will not listen to you now. You did wrong things, so God has said, ‘You can’t be the big boss any more.’ ”
(We have not yet translated 15:27-31.)
32 Then Samuel said to the soldiers, “Where’s that Agag, the Amalek mob’s boss? Bring him to me.”
They brought Agag to Samuel. Agag was not afraid, and he thought, “It looks like they will not kill me dead after all.”
33 But Samuel said to him, “You killed people with your own long knife. Now lots of women have no children any more. Well, just like that, your mother will have no children any more.”
So Samuel killed Agag dead right there at Gilgal. And God watched him do it.
34 Then Samuel left and went back to his place in the town called Ramah. Saul went back to his place in Gibeah.
35 After that, Samuel never saw Saul again. He was very sad about what Saul did. And God was sad too. He was sorry that he made Saul to be the big boss of Israel.