1Sa 15:16-24 | NASB1995 | STEP | Then Samuel said to Saul , “ Wait , and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night .” And he said to him, “ Speak !”

1 Samuel 15:16-24

16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!”

17 Samuel said, “Is it not true, ^athough you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed you king over Israel, 18 and the Lord sent you on a ^{▼▼ Lit way}mission, and said, ‘ ^cGo and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’ 19 “Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, ^dbut rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”

20 Then Saul said to Samuel, ^e“I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the ^{▼▼ Lit way}mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 “But ^gthe people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” 22 Samuel said, ^h“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, ⁱto obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 “For rebellion is as the sin of ^jdivination,
And insubordination is as ^kiniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
^lHe has also rejected you from being king.”

24 Then Saul said to Samuel, ^m“I have sinned; ⁿI have indeed transgressed the ^{▼▼ Lit mouth}command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.