⁸ He captured Agag the Amalekite king alive, but Saul placed all the people under the ban, killing them with the sword. ⁹ Saul and the troops spared Agag along with the best sheep, cattle, fattened calves,^[a] lambs, and everything of value. They weren’t willing to put them under the ban; but anything that was despised or of no value^[b] they placed under the ban.