1 Samuel 15:8-23

8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.1

10Then came the word of Yhwh unto Samuel, saying, 11It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto Yhwh all night. 12And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of Yhwh: I have performed the commandment of Yhwh. 14And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto Yhwh thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what Yhwh hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. 17And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, And Yhwh anointed thee king over Israel? 18And Yhwh sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.2 19Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of Yhwh, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of Yhwh? 20And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of Yhwh, and have gone the way which Yhwh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto Yhwh thy God in Gilgal. 22And Samuel said, hath Yhwh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yhwh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of Yhwh, he hath also rejected thee from being king.3