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, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.'
19
Why then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst leap upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?"
20
And Saul said unto Samuel, "Yea, 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 chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal."
22
And Samuel said, "Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king."
24
And Saul said unto Samuel, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
25
Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD."
26
And Samuel said unto Saul, "I will not return with thee; for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel."
27
And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.