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1 Samuel 15:9
ESV But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
NIV But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
NASB But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the more valuable animals, the lambs, and everything that was good, and were unwilling to destroy them completely; but everything despicable and weak, that they completely destroyed.
CSB Saul and the troops spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and choice animals, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things.
NLT Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs — everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.
KJV But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
NKJV But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

What does 1 Samuel 15:9 mean?

The Lord commanded Saul to completely annihilate every living thing, human and animal, of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3). Those lives were marked for death by God to satisfy His declaration of judgment on Amalek about four hundred years earlier (Deuteronomy 25:17–19).

Saul's refusal to kill the king and permitting the Israelites to take possession of the best animals as plunder were both direct violations of the Lord's revealed will through Samuel. Saul will later offer excuses, but no reasoning will be good enough to justify doing the opposite of God's command. Partial obedience is still disobedience, and the Lord doesn't want us to think we can "do better" than what He's told us (1 Samuel 15:22–23).
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