12
And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set himself up a monument and is gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal.
13
And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed
be thou of the LORD; I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
14
Then Samuel said, What
means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15
And Saul said, They have brought them from Amalek, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
16
Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
17
And Samuel said, When thou
wast little in thine own sight,
wast thou not
made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
18
And the LORD sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners of Amalek and fight against them until they are consumed.
19
Why then didst thou not hear the voice of the LORD but didst fly upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
20
And Saul said unto Samuel, But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD and have gone the way which the LORD sent me and have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the firstfruits of the anathema, to sacrifice them unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
22
And Samuel said, Does the LORD have
as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in hearing the voice of the LORD? Behold, to hear
is better than sacrifice
and to hearken than the fat of rams.