Saul defends the spoil

17And Samuel said, “Though you were small in your own eyes, were you not the head of the tribes of Israel? And Yahweh anointed you king over Israel.”

18And Yahweh sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and devote the sinners, the Amalekites, to destruction, and fight against them until they are consumed.’

19Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh, but rush upon the spoil and do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh?

20Saul said to Samuel, “But I did obey the voice of Yahweh, and I went on the way that Yahweh sent me, and I brought Agag king of Amalek, and I devoted Amalek to destruction.”

21But the people took from the spoil sheep and cattle, the best of what had been devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal.