²⁴ Saul said to Samuel, ^(A)“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. ²⁵ Now therefore, please pardon my sin and ^(B)return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” ²⁶ And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. ^(C)For you have rejected the word of the Lord, ^(D)and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” ^27 (E)As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ And Samuel said to him, ^(F)“The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. ²⁹ And also the Glory of Israel ^(G)will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” ³⁰ Then he said, “I have sinned; yet ^(H)honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, ^(I)and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” ³¹ So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully.^[a] Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” ³³ And Samuel said, ^(J)“As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord ^(K)in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel went ^(L)to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in ^(M)Gibeah of Saul. ^35 (N)And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, ^(O)but Samuel grieved over Saul. ^(P)And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.