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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>1 Samuel 15 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_samuel/15.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/1_samuel/15-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > 1 Samuel 15</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_samuel/14.htm" title="1 Samuel 14">◄</a> 1 Samuel 15 <a href="../1_samuel/16.htm" title="1 Samuel 16">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/1_samuel/15.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">The <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> Rejects Saul</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>And Samuel said to Saul, “The <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20, 21">a</a></sup></span> all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="The meaning of the Hebrew term is uncertain">b</a></sup></span> and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>The word of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> came to Samuel: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>“I regret<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="See also verses 29, 35">c</a></sup></span> that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> all night. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>. I have performed the commandment of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> anointed you king over Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>And the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Why then did you not obey the voice of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>. I have gone on the mission on which the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> your God in Gilgal.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>And Samuel said,</p><span class="block-indent"><p class="line-group"><span class="ln-group">“Has the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,</span><br /><span class="indent">as in obeying the voice of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>?</span><br /><span class="ln-group">Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,</span><br /><span class="indent">and to listen than the fat of rams.</span><br /> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span><span class="ln-group">For rebellion is as the sin of divination,</span><br /><span class="indent">and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.</span><br /><span class="ln-group">Because you have rejected the word of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>,</span><br /><span class="indent">he has also rejected you from being king.”</span></p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, and the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> has rejected you from being king over Israel.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>And Samuel said to him, “The <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> your God.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully.<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or haltingly (compare Septuagint); the Hebrew is uncertain">d</a></sup></span> Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> in Gilgal.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">3</span> That is, set apart (<span class="catch-word">devote</span>) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20, 21<br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">9</span> The meaning of the Hebrew term is uncertain<br /><span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">11</span> See also verses 29, 35<br /><span class="footnotesbot">d</span> <span class="fnverse">32</span> Or <i>haltingly</i> (compare Septuagint); the Hebrew is uncertain<br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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