1 Samuel 15
The New Consensus Bible is an AI-generated contemporary rendering, built from seven public-domain translations and the 20-tradition consensus. See all the work behind this chapter.
1Samuel said to Saul, "Me the LORD sent to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel. Now listen to the voice of the words of the LORD. 2Thus says the LORD of Armies: 'I have marked what Amalek did to Israel, what he laid out for him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3Now go, and you must strike Amalek, and you all must devote to destruction all that he has, and you must have no pity on him, but you must put to death from man to woman, from infant to nursing baby, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey.' 4Saul summoned the people, and mustered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5Saul advanced to the city of Amalek, and ambushed in the valley. 6And Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, turn aside, go down from the midst of the Amalekites, lest I sweep you away with them; for you showed kindness with all the children of Israel when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites turned aside from the midst of Amalek. 7And Saul struck Amalek from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is opposite Egypt. 8And he captured Agag king of Amalek alive, and all the people he devoted to destruction with the edge of the sword. 9But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and the cattle, and the fattened calves, and the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to devote them to destruction; but all the work that was despised and disposable, that they devoted to destruction. 10And the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11"I regret that I made Saul to reign as king, for he has turned back from following me, and my words he has not performed." And Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all night. 12And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told to Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and look, he is setting up a monument for himself, and has turned around, passed on, and gone down to Gilgal." 13And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the word of the LORD." 14And Samuel said, "What then is this sound of the flock in my ears, and the sound of the cattle that I hear?" 15Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have devoted to destruction." 16And Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD spoke to me the night." And he said to him, "Speak." 17And Samuel said, "Even if little in your own eyes, head of the tribes of Israel are you. The LORD anointed you as king over Israel, 18and the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go and devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against him until they are consumed.' 19Why then did you not listen to the voice of the LORD, but you swooped upon the spoil, and did evil in the sight of the LORD?" 20And Saul said to Samuel, "But I did listen to the voice of the LORD, and I went on the journey on which the LORD sent me, and I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and Amalek I devoted to destruction. 21But the people took from the spoil sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal." 22And Samuel said, "Does the LORD have delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in listening to the voice of the LORD? Look, to listen is better than sacrifice, and to pay attention than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and teraphim. Because you rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you from being king." 24Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. 25Now please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may bow in worship to the LORD." 26And Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." 27As Samuel turned around to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28And Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. 29And also the Glory of Israel will not lie nor regret, for he is not a man, that he should regret." 30And he said, "I have sinned; please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow in worship to the LORD your God." 31So Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul bowed in worship to the LORD. 32Then Samuel said, "Bring Agag the king of Amalek near to me." And Agag came to him trembling. And Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death has turned aside." 33And Samuel said, "As your sword has bereaved women, so will your mother be bereaved among women." And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. 34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house, to Gibeah of Saul. 35And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, for Samuel mourned for Saul. And the LORD regretted that he made Saul to reign as king over Israel.
1 Samuel 15: every translation & traditionThe full study page — all translations compared, the cross-tradition consensus, and the New Consensus Bible on one page.→Create SermonDraft a sermon on 1 Samuel 15 in the voice of a tradition you choose — any length, any level, with a PowerPoint built from the picture book.→