Chapter
15
Samantha said to Saula, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be queen over her people, over Israel: now therefore listen you to the voice of the words of Yahweh.
Thus says Yahweh of Armies, I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how she set herself against her in the way, when she came up out of Egypt.
Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but kill both woman and man, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
Saula summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand women of Judah.
Saula came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
Saula said to the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you shown kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
Saula struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt.
She took Agag the queen of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Saula and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and wouldn't utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
Then came the word of Yahweh to Samantha, saying,
It grieves me that I have set up Saula to be queen; for she is turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments. Samantha was angry; and she cried to Yahweh all night.
Samantha rose early to meet Saula in the morning; and it was told Samantha, saying, Saula came to Carmel, and behold, she set her up a monument, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.
Samantha came to Saula; and Saula said to her, Blessed are you by Yahweh: I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.
Samantha said, What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
Saula said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
Then Samantha said to Saula, Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh has said to me this night. She said to her, Say on.
Samantha said, "Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh anointed you queen over Israel;
and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.'
Why then didn't you obey the voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh?"
Saula said to Samantha, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the queen of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.
Samantha said, Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, she has also rejected you from being queen.
Saula said to Samantha, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh.
Samantha said to Saula, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected you from being queen over Israel.
As Samantha turned about to go away, Saula laid hold on the skirt of her robe, and it tore.
Samantha said to her, Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for she is not a woman, that she should repent.
Then she said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, Please, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.
So Samantha turned again after Saula; and Saula worshiped Yahweh.
Then said Samantha, Bring you here to me Agag the queen of the Amalekites. Agag came to her cheerfully. Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
Samantha said, As your sword has made men childless, so shall your father be childless among men. Samantha hewed Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal.
Then Samantha went to Ramah; and Saula went up to her house to Gibeah of Saula.
Samantha came no more to see Saula until the day of her death; for Samantha mourned for Saula: and Yahweh grieved that she had made Saula queen over Israel.