1 Samuel 15:3

Utterly destroy. Literally, “you [plural] utterly destroy.” The responsibility for the ban on the possessions of the Amalekites rested on the members of the army themselves. But the verb “smite,” in the command, “smite Amalek,” is in the second person singular, placing the responsibility for the extermination of the Amalekites on Saul personally as king of Israel. The Hebrew word charam, translated “destroy,” means “to ban,” “to devote,” and thus “to exterminate.” When a country was put under the ban, everything belonging to that nation was looked upon as accursed. The people were to be killed, also the cattle and other living things, but such things as silver and gold were to be brought into the treasury of the Lord (see Joshua 6:17-19). A similar custom existed among other nations of the Near East in ancient times.