¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “^(A)It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him.”

¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!”

¹⁷ Samuel said, “Is it not true, ^(A)though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed you king over Israel, ¹⁸ and the Lord sent you on a ^[a]mission, and said, ‘^(B)Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’ ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, ^(C)but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”

²⁰ Then Saul said to Samuel, “^(D)I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the ^[b]mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ But ^(E)the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” ²² Samuel said,

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, “^(K)I have sinned; ^(L)I have indeed transgressed the ^[c]command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.