20 Saul explained to Samuel: “I did indeed obey the Lord and fulfill the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought back Agag, the king of Amalek, and, carrying out the ban, I have destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But from the spoil the army took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel said:“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrificesas much as in obedience to the Lord’s command?Obedience is better than sacrifice,to listen, better than the fat of rams.
23 For a sin of divination is rebellion,and arrogance, the crime of idolatry.Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,the Lord in turn has rejected you as king.”
24 Saul admitted to Samuel: “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the command of the Lord and your instructions. I feared the people and obeyed them.
25 Now forgive my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, because you rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you as king of Israel.”