Saul will no longer be king
1Samuel said to King Saul: ‘The Lord sent me to anoint you to be the king over Israel, his people. Now you must listen to what the Lord says. 2The Lord who rules over all says: “I saw what the Amalekites did to the people of Israel. They attacked the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt. 3Now you must attack the Amalekites and defeat them. You must kill everything they have. Do not feel sorry for them. You must kill everyone: men and women, children and babies, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” ’
4Saul called all the men and said they must come together at the town of Telaim. There were 200 000 men of Israel and 10 000 men of Judah. 5Saul went to the town of the Amalekites. He and the men were hiding in the dry river and they waited for the Amalekites. 6Saul sent a message to the Kenite people. He said: ‘You must go away, and leave the Amalekites. Do not stay with them. Then we will not kill you when we kill the Amalekites, because you were good to the Israelites and helped them when they came out of Egypt.’
The Kenites went away from the Amalekites 7and Saul attacked the Amalekites. He attacked them from the land of Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt. 8He did not kill King Agag of the Amalekites. He took him alive but he killed all the other Amalekite people. 9Saul and the men let Agag live, as well as the best and fattest sheep, goats and cattle. They did not want to kill the good animals. They killed only the animals that were weak and the ones they did not want. 10Then the Lord said to Samuel: 11‘I am sorry that I made Saul king, because he did not listen to Me. He has not done what I said.’
Samuel was very worried and upset. He prayed all night and asked the Lord to help him. 12He was up early the next morning to go to Saul when someone told Samuel: ‘Saul went to the town of Carmel, and he put up a monument for himself.’ Then Samuel went to Gilgal.
13Samuel went to Saul and Saul said to him: ‘I pray that the Lord will bless you. I did what God said.’ 14Then Samuel said: ‘But what do I hear? I hear the noise of sheep and goats and cows.’
15Saul said: ‘The men took the animals from the Amalekites. They took the best sheep and goats and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God. But we have killed all the other animals.’
16Samuel said to Saul: ‘Keep quiet and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ Saul said: ‘Tell me. I will listen.’ 17And Samuel said: ‘You said you were not an important man, but now you are the leader of the tribes_of_Israel. The Lord anointed you and He made you king_of_Israel. 18The Lord sent you and He said you must go and kill those bad sinners, the Amalekites. He said you must go and make war_against them until you had killed all of them. 19Why have you not listened to the Lord? And why did you go so quickly to take everything they had? The Lord does not like what you have done. It is wrong.’
20Then Saul said to Samuel: ‘But I did what the Lord said. I went when He sent me and I brought Agag, the king of the Amalekites, here and killed all the Amalekites. 21And the men took some of the sheep and goats and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. They kept the best of the animals that were to be sacrificed to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’
22Samuel said:
‘What do you think is the most important to the Lord:
To bring burnt-offerings to Him
or to do what He tells you to do?
You must know this:
It is better to obey the Lord than to sacrifice to Him.
It is better to listen to Him
than to sacrifice the fat of rams.
23Because someone who rebels_against the Lord
is doing the same sin as a fortune-teller.
And anyone who does not listen to the Lord
is doing the same sin
as people who pray to idols.
You have not done what the Lord said to you. That is why He has decided that you will no longer be king.’
24Saul said to Samuel: ‘I have sinned. I have not done what the Lord and you told me to do. I was afraid of the men and I did what they asked. 25But now I ask: Please forgive my sins and come back with me so that I can pray to the Lord.’
26But Samuel said to Saul: ‘No, I will not go back with you because you have not done what the Lord told you to do, and the Lord said you will not be king anymore.’
27Samuel turned_around to go, but Saul grabbed the end of his cloak and he tore it off. 28Then Samuel said to Saul: ‘You have been king_of_Israel, but today the Lord has torn your kingdom off and He has given it to someone who is better than you. 29And the God of Israel does not lie or change the things that He has said. He is not like a man who changes the things that He has decided.’
30And Saul said: ‘I have sinned, but please respect me in front of the officers and the Israelites. Come back with me so that I can pray to the Lord.’ 31So Samuel went back with Saul and Saul prayed to the Lord.
32Then Samuel said: ‘Bring Agag, the king of the Amalekites, to me.’
Agag came to Samuel, but he was not worried. He said: ‘I am sure they will not kill me. I am not afraid anymore.’ 33But Samuel said: ‘You have killed the children of women and now your mother also will not have a child anymore.’ Samuel killed Agag and he cut him into pieces there at the tent of the Lord.
34Samuel went to the town of Ramah and Saul went to his home in the town of Gibeah, the town of Saul. 35Samuel never saw Saul again. He cried and mourned over Saul. But the Lord felt sorry that He had made Saul king of the people of Israel.
