1 Samuel 15 - Simple English

1Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people, over Israel. So now listen to the words of the LORD."

2"This is what the LORD of hosts says: 'I remember what Amalek did to Israel. He lay in wait for Israel on the road, when Israel came up from Egypt.'"

3"'Now go and attack Amalek. Completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"

4So Saul gathered the people together and counted them in Telaim. There were two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and ten thousand men of Judah.

5Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.

6Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, leave, get away from among the Amalekites, or I will destroy you along with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites left the Amalekites.

7Saul struck down the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

8He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and completely destroyed all the people with the sword.

9But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and the oxen and the fat cattle and the lambs, and all that was good. They would not completely destroy them. But everything that was worthless and of no use, that they destroyed completely.

10Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel:

11"I am sorry that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands." This grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.

12Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul. Someone told Samuel, "Saul went to Carmel, and there he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned and went on, and went down to Gilgal."

13Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the command of the LORD."

14Samuel said, "Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears? And what is this lowing of oxen that I hear?"

15Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites. The people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God. The rest we have completely destroyed."

16Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And Saul said to him, "Speak."

17Samuel said, "When you were small in your own eyes, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel."

18"The LORD sent you on a journey and said, 'Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are wiped out.'"

19"Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you rush on the plunder and do evil in the sight of the LORD?"

20Saul said to Samuel, "But I did obey the voice of the LORD. I went on the mission the LORD sent me on. I have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and I have completely destroyed the Amalekites."

21"But the people took sheep and oxen from the plunder, the best of the things that should have been completely destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."

22Samuel said, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Look, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen is better than the fat of rams."

23"For rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is like wickedness and idol worship. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."

24Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I have broken the command of the LORD, and your words too. I was afraid of the people, and I obeyed their voice."

25"Now I beg you, pardon my sin, and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD."

26Samuel said to Saul, "I will not go back with you. For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel."

27As Samuel turned to go away, Saul took hold of the edge of his robe, and it tore.

28Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and has given it to a neighbour of yours, who is better than you."

29"And also the Strength of Israel will not lie, and will not change his mind. For he is not a man, that he should change his mind."

30Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Yet honour me now, I beg you, in front of the elders of my people and in front of Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God."

31So Samuel went back after Saul, and Saul worshipped the LORD.

32Then Samuel said, "Bring me Agag the king of the Amalekites." And Agag came to him carefully. And Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past."

33Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." And Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

35Samuel did not come to see Saul again until the day of his death. Yet Samuel mourned for Saul. And the LORD was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.