1Sa 15:1-9 | ESV | STEP | And Samuel said to Saul , The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel ; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord .

1 Samuel 15:1-9

The Lord Rejects Saul

1 And Samuel said to Saul, ^a“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel ^bin opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and ^cdevote to destruction ^{▼▼That is, set apart ( devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20, 21} all that they have. Do not spare them, ^ebut kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to ^fthe Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. ^gFor you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 ^hAnd Saul defeated the Amalekites from ⁱHavilah as far as ^jShur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive ^kand devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 ^lBut Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew term is uncertain} and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.