7. Saul routed Amalek from Havilah to the approaches of Shur, on the frontier of Egypt.
8. He took Agag, king of Amalek, alive, but the rest of the people he destroyed by the sword, putting them under the ban.
9. He and his troops spared Agag and the best of the fat sheep and oxen, and the lambs. They refused to put under the ban anything that was worthwhile, destroying only what was worthless and of no account.
10. Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel:
11. I regret having made Saul king, for he has turned from me and has not kept my command. At this Samuel grew angry and cried out to the Lord all night.
12. Early in the morning he went to meet Saul, but was informed that Saul had gone to Carmel, where he set up a monument in his own honor, and that on his return he had gone down to Gilgal.
13. When Samuel came to him, Saul greeted him: “The Lord bless you! I have kept the command of the Lord.”
14. But Samuel asked, “What, then, is this bleating of sheep that comes to my ears, the lowing of oxen that I hear?”
15. Saul replied: “They were brought from Amalek. The people spared the best sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord, your God; but the rest we destroyed, putting them under the ban.”
16. Samuel said to Saul: “Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Speak!” he replied.
17. Samuel then said: “Though little in your own eyes, are you not chief of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king of Israel
18. and sent you on a mission, saying: Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction. Fight against them until you have exterminated them.
19. Why then have you disobeyed the Lord? You have pounced on the spoil, thus doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight.”
20. Saul explained to Samuel: “I did indeed obey the Lord and fulfill the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought back Agag, the king of Amalek, and, carrying out the ban, I have destroyed the Amalekites.
21. But from the spoil the army took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22. But Samuel said:“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrificesas much as in obedience to the Lord’s command?Obedience is better than sacrifice,to listen, better than the fat of rams.