1   And Samuel said to Saul: Our Lord sent me to annointe thee king ouer his people Israel; now therefore heare the voice of our Lord:

2   Thus sayth the Lord of hostes: I haue recounted whatsoeuer Amalec hath done to Israel: how he resisted them in the way when they came vp out of Ægypt.

3   Now therefore goe, and ^note strike Amalec, and ^note destroy al that he hath: spare him not, and couet not ought of his thinges: but kil from man vnto woman, both childe & suckling, oxe and sheepe, camel and asse.

4   Saul therefore commanded the people, and numbered them as it were lambes: two hundred thousand footemen, & ten thousand of the men of Iuda.

5   And when Saul was come vnto the citie of Amalec, he laid ambushementes in the torrent.

6   And Saul said to the Cineite: Goe ye, retyre and depart from Amalec: lest perhaps I wrappe thee in with him. for thou hast done mercie with al the children of Israel, when they descended out of Ægypt. And the Cineite departed out of the middes of Amalec.

7   And Saul stroke Amalec from Heuila, vntil thou come to Sur, which is ouer against Ægypt.

8   And he apprehended Agag the king of Amalec aliue: but al the comon people he slewe in the edge of the sword.

9   And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best flockes of sheepe and heardes, and the garmentes and rammes, and al thinges, that were fayre, neither would they destroy them: but whatsoeuer was vile and refuse, that they destroyed.

10   And the word of our Lord was made to Samuel, saying:

11   It repenteth me that I haue made Saul king: because he hath forsaken me, & hath not fulfilled my wordes in worke. And Samuel was strooken sadde, and cried to our Lord al the night.

12   And when Samuel had risen in the night, to goe to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, that Saul was come into Carmelus, and had erected to him selfe a triumphant arch, and returning was passed, and gone into Galgal. Samuel therefore came to Saul, and Saul offered an holocaust to our Lord of the first of the prayes,

Samuel. Saul. which he had brought from Amalec.

13   And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul sayd to him: Blessed be thou to our Lord, I haue fulfilled the word of our Lord.

14   And Samuel sayd: And what is this voice of flockes, which soundeth in myne eares, and of heardes, which I heare?

15   And Saul said: They haue brought them from Amalec: for the people hath spared the better sheepe and heardes that they might be immolated to our Lord thy God, but the rest we haue slaine.

16   And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I wil shew thee what our Lord hath spoken to me this night. And he sayd to him: Speake.

17   And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thyne owne eyes, ^note was thou not made chief in the tribes of Israel? And our Lord annointed thee to be king ouer Israel,

18   and our Lord sent thee on the way, and sayd: Goe, and kil the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them vntil the vtter destruction of them.

19   Why therefore hast thou not heard the voice of our Lord: but art turned to the praye, and hast done euil in the eies of our Lord?

20   And Saul said to Samuel: Yea I haue heard the voice of our Lord, and haue walked in the way by which our Lord sent me, and haue brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I haue slaine.

21   But the people tooke of the praye sheepe and oxen, the principal of those thinges which were slaine, to immolate to our Lord their God in Galgal.

22   And Samuel said: Why wil our Lord haue holocaustes and victimes, and not rather that the voice of our Lord be obeyed? For ^note better is obedience then victimes: and to harken rather then to offer the fatte of rammes.

23   Because it is as it were the sinne of inchantment, to resist: and as it were the wickednes of idolatrie, to refuse to obey. For as much therefore as thou hast reiected the word of our Lord, our Lord hath reiected thee that thou shalt not be king.

24   And Saul said to Samuel: I haue sinned, because I haue transgressed the saying of our Lord, and thy wordes, fearing the people, and obeying their voice.

25   But now beare I besech thee my sinne, and returne with me, that I may adore our Lord.

26   And Samuel sayd to Saul: I wil not returne with thee, because thou hast reiected the word of our Lord, and our Lord hath reiected thee that thou shalt not be king ouer Israel,

27   And Samuel turned him selfe to depart: but he caught the hemme of his cloke, which also did rent.

28   And Samuel said to him: Our Lord hath rent the

Samuel. Saul. kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath deliuered it to thy neighbour better then thou.

29   Moreouer the Triumpher in Israel wil not spare, and he wil not be turned with repentance: for neither is he a man that he may repent.

30   But he said: I haue sinned: howbeit now honour me before the ancientes of my people, and before Israel, and returne with me, that I may adore our Lord thy God.

31   Samuel therefore returning folowed Saul: and Saul adored our Lord.

32   And Samuel said: Bring vnto me Agag the king of Amalec. And Agag was presented to him very fatte, trembling. And Agag sayd: Doth bitter death thus separat?

33   And Samuel said: As thy sword hath made wemen without children, so shal thy mother among wemen be without children. And Samuel hewed him into peeces before our Lord in Galgal.

34   And Samuel departeth into Ramatha: but Saul ascended vnto his house into Gabaa.

35   And Samuel saw Saul no more vnto the day of his death: but yet Samuel lamented Saul because it ^note repented our Lord that he had appointed him king ouer Israel.

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