A reading from 1 Samuel.

And Samuel said to Saul,

The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel.

Now therefore listen to the words of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts.

I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt.

Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all

that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep,

camel and donkey. So Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Talium, 200,000 men on foot,

and 10,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait

in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart. Go down from among the Amalekites,

lest I destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came

up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites, and Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havela as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt, and he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites alive, and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the ox, and of the fatten calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them.

All that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction.

The word of the Lord came to Samuel.

I regret that I have made Saul King, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my

commandments. And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel rose early to

meet Saul in the morning, and it was told Samuel. Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument

for himself, and turned and passed on and went down

to Gilgau. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed be you to the Lord, I have performed

the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears,

and the lowing of the oxen that I hear.

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