1 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one whom the Lord sent to anoint you king of his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord Almighty says.
2 He is going to punish the people of Amalek because their ancestors opposed the Israelites when they were coming from Egypt.
3 Go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Don't leave a thing; kill all the men, women, children, and babies; the cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys.”
4 Saul called his forces together and inspected them at Telem: there were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and 10,000 from Judah.
5 Then he and his men went to the city of Amalek and waited in ambush in a dry riverbed.
6 He sent a warning to the Kenites, a people whose ancestors had been kind to the Israelites when they came from Egypt: “Go away and leave the Amalekites, so that I won't kill you along with them.” So the Kenites left.
7 Saul defeated the Amalekites, fighting all the way from Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt;