16 Samuel then said to Saul, "Enough! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.""Tell me," Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, "Even if you think you are insignificant, aren’t you the leader of Israel’s tribes? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.
18 The Lord sent you on a mission, instructing you, ‘Go, and put the sinful Amalekites under the ban. Fight against them until you’ve wiped them out.’
19 Why didn’t you obey the Lord? You did evil in the Lord’s eyes when you tore into the plunder!"
20 "But I did obey the Lord!" Saul protested to Samuel. "I went on the mission the Lord sent me on. I captured Agag the Amalekite king, and I put the Amalekites under the ban.
21 Yes, the troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder—the very best items placed under the ban—but in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal."
22 Then Samuel replied,"Does the Lord want entirely burned offerings and sacrificesas much as obedience to the Lord?Listen to this: obeying is better than sacrificing,paying attention is better than fat from rams,