Saul’s army defeated the Amalekites

15 One day Samuel said to Saul, “Yahweh sent me to appoint you to be the king of the Israeli people. So now listen to this message from Yahweh: 2 Yahweh, the commander of the armies of angels has declared this: ‘I am going to punish the descendants of Amalek for attacking the Israeli people after the Israelis left Egypt. 3 So now go with your army and attack the Amalek people-group. Destroy them completely—destroy them and everything that belongs to them—the men and women, their children and infants, their cattle and sheep and camels and donkeys. Do not ◄spare any of them/allow any of them to remain alive►!’”

4 So Saul summoned the army, and they gathered at Telaim town. There were 200,000 soldiers. 10,000 of them were from Judah, and the others were from the other Israeli tribes. 5 Then Saul went with his army to a town where some of the Amalek people-group lived. His army prepared to attack them suddenly by hiding in the valley. 6 Then Saul sent this message to the Ken people-group who lived in that area: “You acted kindly toward all our Israeli ancestors when they left Egypt. But we are going to kill all of the Amalek people-group, because they opposed/attacked our ancestors. So move away from where the Amalek people-group live. If you do not move away, you will be killed when they are killed.” So when the Ken people-group heard that, they immediately left that area.

7 Then Saul’s army slaughtered the Amalek people-group, from Havilah town in the east to Shur town in the west. Shur was at the border between Israel and Egypt. 8 Saul’s army captured Agag, the king of the Amalek people-group, but they killed everyone else. 9 They not only ◄spared/did not kill► Agag, but they also took the best sheep and goats and cattle. They took everything that was good. They destroyed only the animals that they considered to be worthless.