²⁸ “But ^(A)no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. ^29 (B)No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction^[a] from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.

^30 (C)“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. ³¹ If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. ³² And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that ^(D)pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the Lord. ³³ One shall not differentiate between good or bad, ^(E)neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

¹⁷ And the city and all that is within it shall be ^(A)devoted to the Lord for destruction.^[a] Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she ^(B)hid the messengers whom we sent. ¹⁸ But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel ^(C)a thing for destruction and ^(D)bring trouble upon it. ¹⁹ But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and ^(E)the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. ²¹ Then they ^(F)devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

Solomon Turns from the Lord

11 Now ^(A)King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ^(B)“You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and ^(C)his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, ^(D)as was the heart of David his father. ⁵ For Solomon went after ^(E)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after ^(F)Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for ^(G)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^(H)Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸ And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

³ Now go and strike Amalek and ^(A)devote to destruction^[a] all that they have. Do not spare them, ^(B)but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

^9 (A)But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves^[a] and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

¹⁰ The word of the Lord came to Samuel: ^11 (B)“I regret^[b] that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and ^(C)has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. ¹² And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to ^(D)Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” ¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, ^(E)“Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” ¹⁴ And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” ¹⁵ Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, ^(F)for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” ¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

¹⁷ And Samuel said, ^(G)“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? ^(H)Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, ^(I)“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. ^21 (J)But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²² And Samuel said,

¹¹ “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, ^(A)as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ^12 (B)you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's. ^13 (C)Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every ^(D)firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

²⁹ For those whom he ^(A)foreknew he also ^(B)predestined ^(C)to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be ^(D)the firstborn among many brothers.

¹⁸ knowing that you ^(A)were ransomed from ^(B)the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but ^(C)with the precious blood of Christ, like that of ^(D)a lamb ^(E)without blemish or spot.