Bible in 90 Days

³⁰ I, the Lord God of Israel, promised in the past that your family and your clan would serve me as priests for all time. But now I say that I won't have it any longer! Instead, I will honor those who honor me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me. ³¹ Listen, the time is coming when I will kill all the young men in your family and your clan, so that no man in your family will live to be old. ³² You will be troubled and look with envy^[a] on all the blessings I will give to the other people of Israel, but no one in your family will ever again live to old age. ³³ Yet I will keep one of your descendants alive, and he will serve me as priest. But he^[b] will become blind and lose all hope, and all your other descendants will die a violent death. ^34 (A)When your two sons Hophni and Phinehas both die on the same day, this will show you that everything I have said will come true. ³⁵ I will choose a priest who will be faithful to me and do everything I want him to. I will give him descendants, who will always serve in the presence of my chosen king. ³⁶ Any of your descendants who survive will have to go to that priest and ask him for money and food, and beg to be allowed to help the priests, in order to have something to eat.”

The Lord Appears to Samuel

3 In those days, when the boy Samuel was serving the Lord under the direction of Eli, there were very few messages from the Lord, and visions from him were quite rare. ² One night Eli, who was now almost blind, was sleeping in his own room; ³ Samuel was sleeping in the sanctuary, where the sacred Covenant Box was. Before dawn, while the lamp was still burning, ⁴ the Lord called Samuel. He answered, “Yes, sir!” ⁵ and ran to Eli and said, “You called me, and here I am.”

But Eli answered, “I didn't call you; go back to bed.” So Samuel went back to bed.

^6-7 The Lord called Samuel again. The boy did not know that it was the Lord, because the Lord had never spoken to him before. So he got up, went to Eli, and said, “You called me, and here I am.”

But Eli answered, “My son, I didn't call you; go back to bed.”

⁸ The Lord called Samuel a third time; he got up, went to Eli, and said, “You called me, and here I am.”

Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy, ⁹ so he said to him, “Go back to bed; and if he calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, and called as he had before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Speak; your servant is listening.”

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Some day I am going to do something to the people of Israel that is so terrible that everyone who hears about it will be stunned. ¹² On that day I will carry out all my threats against Eli's family, from beginning to end. ¹³ I have already told him^[c] that I am going to punish his family forever because his sons have spoken evil things against me. Eli knew they were doing this, but he did not stop them. ¹⁴ So I solemnly declare to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever be able to remove the consequences of this terrible sin.”

¹⁵ Samuel stayed in bed until morning; then he got up and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. ¹⁶ Eli called him, “Samuel, my boy!”

“Yes, sir,” answered Samuel.

¹⁷ “What did the Lord tell you?” Eli asked. “Don't keep anything from me. God will punish you severely if you don't tell me everything he said.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything; he did not keep anything back. Eli said, “He is the Lord; he will do whatever seems best to him.”

¹⁹ As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and made come true everything that Samuel said. ²⁰ So all the people of Israel, from one end of the country to the other, knew that Samuel was indeed a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ The Lord continued to reveal himself at Shiloh, where he had appeared to Samuel and had spoken to him. And when Samuel spoke, all Israel listened.

The Capture of the Covenant Box

4 At that time the Philistines gathered to go to war against Israel, so^[d] the Israelites set out to fight them. The Israelites set up their camp at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek. ² The Philistines attacked, and after fierce fighting they defeated the Israelites and killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. ³ When the survivors came back to camp, the leaders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let the Philistines defeat us today? Let's go and bring the Lord's Covenant Box from Shiloh, so that he^[e] will go with us and save us from our enemies.” ^4 (B)So they sent messengers to Shiloh and got the Covenant Box of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned above the winged creatures.^[f] And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, came along with the Covenant Box.

⁵ When the Covenant Box arrived, the Israelites gave such a loud shout of joy that the earth shook. ⁶ The Philistines heard the shouting and said, “Listen to all that shouting in the Hebrew camp! What does it mean?” When they found out that the Lord's Covenant Box had arrived in the Hebrew camp, ⁷ they were afraid, and said, “A god has come into their camp! We're lost! Nothing like this has ever happened to us before! ⁸ Who can save us from those powerful gods? They are the gods who slaughtered the Egyptians in the desert! ⁹ Be brave, Philistines! Fight like men, or we will become slaves to the Hebrews, just as they were our slaves. So fight like men!”

¹⁰ The Philistines fought hard and defeated the Israelites, who went running to their homes. There was a great slaughter: thirty thousand Israelite soldiers were killed. ¹¹ God's Covenant Box was captured, and Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were both killed.

The Death of Eli

¹² A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran all the way from the battlefield to Shiloh and arrived there the same day. To show his grief, he had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head. ¹³ Eli, who was very worried about the Covenant Box, was sitting in his seat beside the road, staring. The man spread the news throughout the town, and everyone cried out in fear. ¹⁴ Eli heard the noise and asked, “What is all this noise about?” The man hurried to Eli to tell him the news. (¹⁵ Eli was now ninety-eight years old and almost completely blind.) ¹⁶ The man said, “I have escaped from the battle and have run all the way here today.”

Eli asked him, “What happened, my son?”

¹⁷ The messenger answered, “Israel ran away from the Philistines; it was a terrible defeat for us! Besides that, your sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and God's Covenant Box was captured!”

¹⁸ When the man mentioned the Covenant Box, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He was so old and fat that the fall broke his neck, and he died. He had been a leader in Israel for forty years.

The Death of the Widow of Phinehas

¹⁹ Eli's daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, and it was almost time for her baby to be born. When she heard that God's Covenant Box had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she suddenly went into labor and gave birth. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women helping her said to her, “Be brave! You have a son!” But she paid no attention and did not answer. ²¹ She named the boy Ichabod,^[g] explaining, “God's glory has left Israel”—referring to the capture of the Covenant Box and the death of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² “God's glory has left Israel,” she said, “because God's Covenant Box has been captured.”

The Covenant Box among the Philistines

5 After the Philistines captured the Covenant Box, they carried it from Ebenezer to their city of Ashdod, ² took it into the temple of their god Dagon, and set it up beside his statue. ³ Early the next morning the people of Ashdod saw that the statue of Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground in front of the Lord's Covenant Box. So they lifted it up and put it back in its place. ⁴ Early the following morning they saw that the statue had again fallen down in front of the Covenant Box. This time its head and both its arms were broken off and were lying in the doorway; only the body was left. (⁵ That is why even today the priests of Dagon and all his worshipers in Ashdod step over that place and do not walk on it.)

⁶ The Lord punished the people of Ashdod severely and terrified them. He punished them and the people in the surrounding territory by causing them to have tumors.^{[h] 7} When they saw what was happening, they said, “The God of Israel is punishing us and our god Dagon. We can't let the Covenant Box stay here any longer.” ⁸ So they sent messengers and called together all five of the Philistine kings and asked them, “What shall we do with the Covenant Box of the God of Israel?”

“Take it over to Gath,” they answered; so they took it to Gath, another Philistine city. ⁹ But after it arrived there, the Lord punished that city too and caused a great panic. He punished them with tumors which developed in all the people of the city, young and old alike. ¹⁰ So they sent the Covenant Box to Ekron, another Philistine city; but when it arrived there, the people cried out, “They have brought the Covenant Box of the God of Israel here, in order to kill us all!” ¹¹ So again they sent for all the Philistine kings and said, “Send the Covenant Box of Israel back to its own place, so that it won't kill us and our families.” There was panic throughout the city because God was punishing them so severely. ¹² Even those who did not die developed tumors and the people cried out to their gods for help.

The Return of the Covenant Box

6 After the Lord's Covenant Box had been in Philistia for seven months, ² the people called the priests and the magicians and asked, “What shall we do with the Covenant Box of the Lord? If we send it back where it belongs, what shall we send with it?”

³ They answered, “If you return the Covenant Box of the God of Israel, you must, of course, send with it a gift to him to pay for your sin. The Covenant Box must not go back without a gift. In this way you will be healed, and you will find out why he has kept on punishing you.”

⁴ “What gift shall we send him?” the people asked.

They answered, “Five gold models of tumors and five gold mice, one of each for each Philistine king. The same plague was sent on all of you and on the five kings. ⁵ You must make these models of the tumors and of the mice that are ravaging your country, and you must give honor to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land. ⁶ Why should you be stubborn, as the king of Egypt and the Egyptians were? Don't forget how God made fools of them until they let the Israelites leave Egypt. ⁷ So prepare a new wagon and two cows that have never been yoked; hitch them to the wagon and drive their calves back to the barn. ⁸ Take the Lord's Covenant Box, put it on the wagon, and place in a box beside it the gold models that you are sending to him as a gift to pay for your sins. Start the wagon on its way and let it go by itself. ⁹ Then watch it go; if it goes toward the town of Beth Shemesh, this means that it is the God of the Israelites who has sent this terrible disaster on us. But if it doesn't, then we will know that he did not send the plague; it was only a matter of chance.”

¹⁰ They did what they were told: they took two cows and hitched them to the wagon, and shut the calves in the barn. ¹¹ They put the Covenant Box in the wagon, together with the box containing the gold models of the mice and of the tumors. ¹² The cows started off on the road to Beth Shemesh and headed straight toward it, without turning off the road. They were mooing as they went. The five Philistine kings followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping wheat in the valley, when suddenly they looked up and saw the Covenant Box. They were overjoyed at the sight. ¹⁴ The wagon came to a field belonging to a man named Joshua, who lived in Beth Shemesh, and it stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the wooden wagon and killed the cows and burned them as a burnt sacrifice to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites lifted off the Covenant Box of the Lord and the box with the gold models in it, and placed them on the large rock. Then the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt sacrifices and other sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶ The five Philistine kings watched them do this and then went back to Ekron that same day.

¹⁷ The Philistines sent the five gold tumors to the Lord as a gift to pay for their sins, one each for the cities of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. ¹⁸ They also sent gold mice, one for each of the cities ruled by the five Philistine kings, both the fortified towns and the villages without walls. The large rock in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, on which they placed the Lord's Covenant Box, is still there as a witness to what happened.

¹⁹ The Lord killed seventy of the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked inside the Covenant Box. And the people mourned because the Lord had caused such a great slaughter among them.

The Covenant Box at Kiriath Jearim

²⁰ So the men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where can we send him to get him away from us?” ²¹ They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim to say, “The Philistines have returned the Lord's Covenant Box. Come down and get it.”

7 ^(C)So the people of Kiriath Jearim got the Lord's Covenant Box and took it to the house of a man named Abinadab, who lived on a hill. They consecrated his son Eleazar to be in charge of it.

Samuel Rules Israel

² The Covenant Box of the Lord stayed in Kiriath Jearim a long time, some twenty years. During this time all the Israelites cried to the Lord for help.

³ Samuel said to the people of Israel, “If you are going to turn to the Lord with all your hearts, you must get rid of all the foreign gods and the images of the goddess Astarte. Dedicate yourselves completely to the Lord and worship only him, and he will rescue you from the power of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites got rid of their idols of Baal and Astarte, and worshiped only the Lord.

⁵ Then Samuel called for all the Israelites to meet at Mizpah, telling them, “I will pray to the Lord for you there.” ⁶ So they all gathered at Mizpah. They drew some water and poured it out as an offering to the Lord and fasted that whole day. They said, “We have sinned against the Lord.” (It was at Mizpah where Samuel settled disputes among the Israelites.)

⁷ When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the five Philistine kings started out with their men to attack them. The Israelites heard about it and were afraid, ⁸ and said to Samuel, “Keep praying to the Lord our God to save us from the Philistines.” ^9 (D)Samuel killed a young lamb and burned it whole as a sacrifice to the Lord. Then he prayed to the Lord to help Israel, and the Lord answered his prayer. ¹⁰ While Samuel was offering the sacrifice, the Philistines moved forward to attack; but just then the Lord thundered from heaven against them. They became completely confused and fled in panic. ¹¹ The Israelites marched out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines almost as far as Bethcar, killing them along the way.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone, set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and said, “The Lord has helped us all the way”—and he named it “Stone of Help.” ¹³ So the Philistines were defeated, and the Lord prevented them from invading Israel's territory as long as Samuel lived. ¹⁴ All the cities which the Philistines had captured between Ekron and Gath were returned to Israel, and so Israel got back all its territory. And there was peace also between the Israelites and the Canaanites.

¹⁵ Samuel ruled Israel as long as he lived. ¹⁶ Every year he would go around to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and in these places he would settle disputes. ¹⁷ Then he would go back to his home in Ramah, where also he would serve as judge. In Ramah he built an altar to the Lord.

The People Ask for a King

8 When Samuel grew old, he made his sons judges in Israel. ² The older son was named Joel and the younger one Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. ³ But they did not follow their father's example; they were interested only in making money, so they accepted bribes and did not decide cases honestly.

⁴ Then all the leaders of Israel met together, went to Samuel in Ramah, ^5 (E)and said to him, “Look, you are getting old and your sons don't follow your example. So then, appoint a king to rule over us, so that we will have a king, as other countries have.” ⁶ Samuel was displeased with their request for a king; so he prayed to the Lord, ⁷ and the Lord said, “Listen to everything the people say to you. You are not the one they have rejected; I am the one they have rejected as their king. ⁸ Ever since I brought them out of Egypt, they have turned away from me and worshiped other gods; and now they are doing to you what they have always done to me. ⁹ So then, listen to them, but give them strict warnings and explain how their kings will treat them.”

¹⁰ Samuel told the people who were asking him for a king everything that the Lord had said to him. ¹¹ “This is how your king will treat you,” Samuel explained. “He will make soldiers of your sons; some of them will serve in his war chariots, others in his cavalry, and others will run before his chariots. ¹² He will make some of them officers in charge of a thousand men, and others in charge of fifty men. Your sons will have to plow his fields, harvest his crops, and make his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. ¹³ Your daughters will have to make perfumes for him and work as his cooks and his bakers. ¹⁴ He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and of your grapes for his court officers and other officials. ¹⁶ He will take your servants and your best cattle^[i] and donkeys, and make them work for him. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks. And you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ When that time comes, you will complain bitterly because of your king, whom you yourselves chose, but the Lord will not listen to your complaints.”

¹⁹ The people paid no attention to Samuel, but said, “No! We want a king, ²⁰ so that we will be like other nations, with our own king to rule us and to lead us out to war and to fight our battles.” ²¹ Samuel listened to everything they said and then went and told it to the Lord. ²² The Lord answered, “Do what they want and give them a king.” Then Samuel told all the men of Israel to go back home.

Saul Meets Samuel

9 There was a wealthy and influential man named Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin; he was the son of Abiel and grandson of Zeror, and belonged to the family of Becorath, a part of the clan of Aphiah. ² He had a son named Saul, a handsome man in the prime of life. Saul was a foot taller than anyone else in Israel and more handsome as well.

³ Some donkeys belonging to Kish had wandered off, so he said to Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.” ⁴ They went through the hill country of Ephraim and the region of Shalishah, but did not find them; so they went on through the region of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. Then they went through the territory of Benjamin, but still did not find them. ⁵ When they came into the region of Zuph, Saul said to his servant, “Let's go back home, or my father might stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”

⁶ The servant answered, “Wait! In this town there is a holy man who is highly respected because everything he says comes true. Let's go to him, and maybe he can tell us where we can find the donkeys.”

⁷ “If we go to him, what can we give him?” Saul asked. “There is no food left in our packs, and we don't have a thing to give him, do we?”

⁸ The servant answered, “I have a small silver coin. I can give him that, and then he will tell us where we can find them.”

^9-11 Saul replied, “A good idea! Let's go.” So they went to the town where the holy man lived. As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women who were coming out to draw water. They asked these women, “Is the seer in town?”

(At that time a prophet was called a seer, and so whenever someone wanted to ask God a question, he would say, “Let's go to the seer.”)

^12-13 “Yes, he is,” the young women answered. “In fact, he is just ahead of you. If you hurry, you will catch up with him. As soon as you go into town, you will find him. He arrived in town today because the people are going to offer a sacrifice on the altar on the hill. The people who are invited won't start eating until he gets there, because he has to bless the sacrifice first. If you go now, you will find him before he goes up the hill to eat.” ¹⁴ So Saul and his servant went on to the town, and as they were going in, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way to the place of worship.

¹⁵ Now on the previous day the Lord had told Samuel, ¹⁶ “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the tribe of Benjamin; anoint him as ruler of my people Israel, and he will rescue them from the Philistines. I have seen the suffering of my people and have heard their cries for help.”

¹⁷ When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man I told you about. He will rule my people.” ¹⁸ Then Saul went over to Samuel, who was near the gate, and asked, “Tell me, where does the seer live?”

¹⁹ Samuel answered, “I am the seer. Go on ahead of me to the place of worship. Both of you are to eat with me today. Tomorrow morning I will answer all your questions and send you on your way. ²⁰ As for the donkeys that were lost three days ago, don't worry about them; they have already been found. But who is it that the people of Israel want so much?^[j] It is you—you and your father's family.”

²¹ Saul answered, “I belong to the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important one in the tribe. Why, then, do you talk like this to me?”

²² Then Samuel led Saul and his servant into the large room and gave them a place at the head of the table where the guests, about thirty in all, were seated. ²³ Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the piece of meat I gave you, which I told you to set aside.” ²⁴ So the cook brought the choice piece of the leg and placed it before Saul. Samuel^[k] said, “Look, here is the piece that was kept for you. Eat it. I saved it for you to eat at this time with the people I invited.”^[l]

So Saul ate with Samuel that day. ²⁵ When they went down from the place of worship to the town, they fixed up a bed for Saul^[m] on the roof,^{[n] 26} and he slept there.^[o]

Samuel Anoints Saul as Ruler

At dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get up, and I will send you on your way.” Saul got up, and he and Samuel went out to the street together. ²⁷ When they arrived at the edge of town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” The servant left, and Samuel continued, “Stay here a minute, and I will tell you what God has said.”

10 Then Samuel took a jar of olive oil and poured it on Saul's head, kissed him, and said, “The Lord anoints you as ruler of his people Israel. You will rule his people and protect them from all their enemies. And this is the proof to you that the Lord has chosen you^[p] to be the ruler of his people: ² When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel's tomb at Zelzah in the territory of Benjamin. They will tell you that the donkeys you were looking for have been found, so that your father isn't worried any more about them but about you, and he keeps asking, ‘What shall I do about my son?’ ³ You will go on from there until you come to the sacred tree at Tabor, where you will meet three men on their way to offer a sacrifice to God at Bethel. One of them will be leading three young goats, another one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and the third one will have a leather bag full of wine. ⁴ They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves, which you are to accept. ⁵ Then you will go to the Hill of God in Gibeah, where there is a Philistine camp. At the entrance to the town you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the altar on the hill, playing harps, drums, flutes, and lyres. They will be dancing and shouting. ⁶ Suddenly the spirit of the Lord will take control of you, and you will join in their religious dancing and shouting and will become a different person. ⁷ When these things happen, do whatever God leads you to do. ⁸ You will go ahead of me to Gilgal, where I will meet you and offer burnt sacrifices and fellowship sacrifices. Wait there seven days until I come and tell you what to do.”

⁹ When Saul turned to leave Samuel, God gave Saul a new nature. And everything Samuel had told him happened that day. ¹⁰ When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a group of prophets met him. Suddenly the spirit of God took control of him, and he joined in their ecstatic dancing and shouting. ¹¹ People who had known him before saw him doing this and asked one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Has Saul become a prophet?” ^12 (F)A man who lived there asked, “How about these other prophets—who do you think their fathers are?” This is how the saying originated, “Has even Saul become a prophet?” ¹³ When Saul finished his ecstatic dancing and shouting, he went to the altar on the hill.

¹⁴ Saul's uncle saw him and the servant, and he asked them, “Where have you been?”

“Looking for the donkeys,” Saul answered. “When we couldn't find them, we went to see Samuel.”

¹⁵ “And what did he tell you?” Saul's uncle asked.

¹⁶ “He told us that the animals had been found,” Saul answered—but he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about his becoming king.

Saul Is Acclaimed as King

¹⁷ Samuel called the people together for a religious gathering at Mizpah ¹⁸ and said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I brought you out of Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and all the other peoples who were oppressing you. ¹⁹ I am your God, the one who rescues you from all your troubles and difficulties, but today you have rejected me and have asked me to give you a king. Very well, then, gather yourselves before the Lord by tribes and by clans.’”

²⁰ Then Samuel had each tribe come forward, and the Lord picked the tribe of Benjamin. ²¹ Then Samuel had the families of the tribe of Benjamin come forward, and the family of Matri was picked out. Then the men of the family of Matri came forward,^[q] and Saul son of Kish was picked out. They looked for him, but when they could not find him, ²² they asked the Lord, “Is there still someone else?”

The Lord answered, “Saul is over there, hiding behind the supplies.”

²³ So they ran and brought Saul out to the people, and they could see that he was a foot taller than anyone else. ²⁴ Samuel said to the people, “Here is the man the Lord has chosen! There is no one else among us like him.”

All the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

²⁵ Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of a king, and then wrote them in a book, which he deposited in a holy place. Then he sent everyone home. ²⁶ Saul also went back home to Gibeah. Some powerful men,^[r] whose hearts God had touched, went with him. ²⁷ But some worthless people said, “How can this fellow do us any good?” They despised Saul and did not bring him any gifts.

Saul Defeats the Ammonites

11 About a month later King Nahash of Ammon led his army against the town of Jabesh in the territory of Gilead and besieged it. The men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will accept you as our ruler.”

² Nahash answered, “I will make a treaty with you on one condition: I will put out everyone's right eye and so bring disgrace on all Israel.”

³ The leaders of Jabesh said, “Give us seven days to send messengers throughout the land of Israel. If no one will help us, then we will surrender to you.”

⁴ The messengers arrived at Gibeah, where Saul lived, and when they told the news, the people started crying in despair. ⁵ Saul was just then coming in from the field with his oxen, and he asked, “What's wrong? Why is everyone crying?” They told him what the messengers from Jabesh had reported. ⁶ When Saul heard this, the spirit of God took control of him, and he became furious. ⁷ He took two oxen, cut them in pieces, and had messengers carry the pieces throughout the land of Israel with this warning: “Whoever does not follow Saul and Samuel into battle will have this done to his oxen!”

The people of Israel were afraid of what the Lord might do, and all of them, without exception, came out together. ⁸ Saul gathered them at Bezek: there were 300,000 from Israel and 30,000 from Judah. ⁹ They said to the messengers from Jabesh, “Tell your people that before noon tomorrow they will be rescued.” When the people of Jabesh received the message, they were overjoyed ¹⁰ and said to Nahash, “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do with us whatever you wish.”

¹¹ That night Saul divided his men into three groups, and at dawn the next day they rushed into the enemy camp and attacked the Ammonites. By noon they had slaughtered them. The survivors scattered, each man running off by himself.

¹² Then the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Where are the people who said that Saul should not be our king? Hand them over to us, and we will kill them!”

¹³ But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, for this is the day the Lord rescued Israel.” ¹⁴ And Samuel said to them, “Let us all go to Gilgal and once more proclaim Saul as our king.” ¹⁵ So they all went to Gilgal, and there at the holy place they proclaimed Saul king. They offered fellowship sacrifices, and Saul and all the people of Israel celebrated the event.

Samuel Addresses the People

12 Then Samuel said to the people of Israel, “I have done what you asked me to do. I have given you a king to rule you, ² and now you have him to lead you. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are with you. I have been your leader from my youth until now. ^3 (G)Here I am. If I have done anything wrong, accuse me now in the presence of the Lord and the king he has chosen. Have I taken anybody's cow or anybody's donkey? Have I cheated or oppressed anyone? Have I accepted a bribe from anyone? If I have done any of these things, I will pay back what I have taken.”

⁴ The people answered, “No, you have not cheated us or oppressed us; you have not taken anything from anyone.”

⁵ Samuel replied, “The Lord and the king he has chosen are witnesses today that you have found me to be completely innocent.”

“Yes, the Lord is our witness,” they answered.

^6 (H)Samuel continued, “The Lord is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors out of Egypt. ⁷ Now stand where you are, and I will accuse you before the Lord by reminding you^[s] of all the mighty actions the Lord did to save you and your ancestors. ^8 (I)When Jacob and his family went to Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them,^[t] your ancestors cried to the Lord for help, and he sent Moses and Aaron, who brought them out of Egypt and settled them in this land. ^9 (J)But the people forgot the Lord their God, and so he let the Philistines and the king of Moab and Sisera, commander of the army of the city of Hazor, fight against your ancestors and conquer them. ^10 (K)Then they cried to the Lord for help and said, ‘We have sinned, because we turned away from you, Lord, and worshiped the idols of Baal and Astarte. Rescue us from our enemies, and we will worship you!’ ^11 (L)And the Lord sent Gideon, Barak,^[u] Jephthah, and finally me. Each of us rescued you from your enemies, and you lived in safety. ^12 (M)But when you saw that King Nahash of Ammon was about to attack you, you rejected the Lord as your king and said to me, ‘We want a king to rule us.’

¹³ “Now here is the king you chose; you asked for him, and now the Lord has given him to you. ¹⁴ All will go well with you if you honor the Lord your God, serve him, listen to him, and obey his commands, and if you and your king follow him. ¹⁵ But if you do not listen to the Lord but disobey his commands, he will be against you and your king.^{[v] 16} So then, stand where you are, and you will see the great thing which the Lord is going to do. ¹⁷ It's the dry season, isn't it? But I will pray, and the Lord will send thunder and rain. When this happens, you will realize that you committed a great sin against the Lord when you asked him for a king.”

¹⁸ So Samuel prayed, and on that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. Then all the people became afraid of the Lord and of Samuel, ¹⁹ and they said to Samuel, “Please, sir, pray to the Lord your God for us, so that we won't die. We now realize that, besides all our other sins, we have sinned by asking for a king.”

²⁰ “Don't be afraid,” Samuel answered. “Even though you have done such an evil thing, do not turn away from the Lord, but serve him with all your heart. ²¹ Don't go after^[w] false gods; they cannot help you or save you, for they are not real. ²² The Lord has made a solemn promise, and he will not abandon you, for he has decided to make you his own people. ²³ As for me, the Lord forbid that I should sin against him by no longer praying for you. Instead, I will teach you what is good and right for you to do. ²⁴ Obey the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Remember the great things he has done for you. ²⁵ But if you continue to sin, you and your king will be destroyed.”

War against the Philistines

13 ^{[x] 2} Saul picked three thousand men, keeping two thousand of them with him in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel and sending one thousand with his son Jonathan to Gibeah, in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. The rest of the men Saul sent home.

³ Jonathan killed the Philistine commander^[y] in Geba, and all the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul sent messengers to call the Hebrews to war by blowing a trumpet throughout the whole country. ⁴ All the Israelites were told that Saul had killed the Philistine commander and that the Philistines hated them. So the people answered the call to join Saul at Gilgal.

⁵ The Philistines assembled to fight the Israelites; they had thirty thousand war chariots, six thousand cavalry troops, and as many soldiers as there are grains of sand on the seashore. They went to Michmash, east of Bethaven, and camped there. ⁶ Then they launched a strong attack against the Israelites, putting them in a desperate situation. Some of the Israelites hid in caves and holes or among the rocks or in pits and wells; ⁷ others crossed the Jordan River into the territories of Gad and Gilead.

Saul was still at Gilgal, and the people with him were trembling with fear. ^8 (N)He waited seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him to do, but Samuel still had not come to Gilgal. The people began to desert Saul, ⁹ so he said to them, “Bring me the burnt sacrifices and the fellowship sacrifices.” He offered a burnt sacrifice, ¹⁰ and just as he was finishing, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and welcome him, ¹¹ but Samuel said, “What have you done?”

Saul answered, “The people were deserting me, and you had not come when you said you would; besides that, the Philistines are gathering at Michmash. ¹² So I thought, ‘The Philistines are going to attack me here in Gilgal, and I have not tried to win the Lord's favor.’ So I felt I had to offer a sacrifice.”

¹³ “That was a foolish thing to do,” Samuel answered. “You have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had obeyed, he would have let you and your descendants rule over Israel forever. ^14 (O)But now your rule will not continue. Because you have disobeyed him, the Lord will find the kind of man he wants and make him ruler of his people.”

¹⁵ Samuel left Gilgal and went on his way. The rest of the people followed Saul as he went to join his soldiers. They went from Gilgal^[z] to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. Saul inspected his troops, about six hundred men. ¹⁶ Saul, his son Jonathan, and their men camped in Geba in the territory of Benjamin; the Philistine camp was at Michmash. ¹⁷ The Philistine soldiers went out on raids from their camp in three groups: one group went toward Ophrah in the territory of Shual, ¹⁸ another went toward Beth Horon, and the other one went to the border overlooking Zeboim Valley and the wilderness.

¹⁹ There were no blacksmiths in Israel because the Philistines were determined to keep the Hebrews from making swords and spears. (²⁰ The Israelites had to go to the Philistines to get their plows, hoes, axes, and sickles^[aa] sharpened; ²¹ the charge was one small coin for sharpening axes and for fixing goads,^[ab] and two coins for sharpening plows or hoes.) ²² And so on the day of battle none of the Israelite soldiers except Saul and his son Jonathan had swords or spears.

²³ The Philistines sent a group of soldiers to defend Michmash Pass.

Jonathan's Daring Deed

14 One day Jonathan said to the young man who carried his weapons, “Let's go across to the Philistine camp.” But Jonathan did not tell his father Saul, ² who was camping under a pomegranate tree in Migron, not far from Gibeah; he had about six hundred men with him. ³ (The priest carrying the ephod was Ahijah, the son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub, who was the son of Phinehas and grandson of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh.) The men did not know that Jonathan had left.

⁴ In Michmash Pass, which Jonathan had to go through to get over to the Philistine camp, there were two large jagged rocks, one on each side of the pass: one was called Bozez and the other Seneh. ⁵ One was on the north side of the pass, facing Michmash, and the other was on the south side, facing Geba.

⁶ Jonathan said to the young man, “Let's cross over to the camp of those heathen Philistines. Maybe the Lord will help us; if he does, nothing can keep him from giving us the victory, no matter how few of us there are.”

⁷ The young man answered, “Whatever you want to do,^[ac] I'm with you.”

⁸ “All right,” Jonathan said. “We will go across and let the Philistines see us. ⁹ If they tell us to wait for them to come to us, then we will stay where we are. ¹⁰ But if they tell us to go to them, then we will, because that will be the sign that the Lord has given us victory over them.”

¹¹ So they let the Philistines see them, and the Philistines said, “Look! Some Hebrews are coming out of the holes they have been hiding in!” ¹² Then they called out to Jonathan and the young man, “Come on up here! We have something to tell^[ad] you!”

Jonathan said to the young man, “Follow me. The Lord has given Israel victory over them.” ¹³ Jonathan climbed up out of the pass on his hands and knees, and the young man followed him. Jonathan attacked the Philistines and knocked them down, and the young man killed them. ¹⁴ In that first slaughter Jonathan and the young man killed about twenty men in an area of about half an acre.^{[ae] 15} All the Philistines in the countryside were terrified; the raiders and the soldiers in the camp trembled with fear; the earth shook, and there was great panic.

The Defeat of the Philistines

¹⁶ Saul's men on watch at Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin saw the Philistines running in confusion. ¹⁷ So Saul said to his men, “Count the soldiers and find out who is missing.” They did so and found that Jonathan and the young man who carried his weapons were missing. ¹⁸ “Bring the ephod^[af] here,” Saul said to Ahijah the priest. (On that day Ahijah was carrying it in front of the people of Israel.)^{[ag] 19} As Saul was speaking to the priest, the confusion in the Philistine camp kept getting worse, so Saul said to him, “There's no time to consult the Lord!” ²⁰ Then he and his men marched into battle against the Philistines, who were fighting each other in complete confusion. ²¹ Some Hebrews, who had been on the Philistine side and had gone with them to the camp, changed sides again^[ah] and joined Saul and Jonathan. ²² Others, who had been hiding in the hills of Ephraim, heard that the Philistines were running away, so they also joined in and attacked the Philistines, ²³ fighting all the way beyond Bethaven. The Lord saved Israel that day.

Events after the Battle

²⁴ The Israelites were weak with hunger that day, because Saul, with a solemn oath, had given the order: “A curse be on anyone who eats any food today before I take revenge on my enemies.” So nobody had eaten anything all day. ²⁵ They all^[ai] came into a wooded area and found honey everywhere. ²⁶ The woods were full of honey, but no one ate any of it because they were all afraid of Saul's curse. ²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard his father threaten the people with a curse; so he reached out with the stick he was carrying, dipped it in a honeycomb, and ate some honey. At once he felt much better. ²⁸ But one of the men told him, “We are all weak from hunger, but your father threatened us and said, ‘A curse be on anyone who eats any food today.’”

²⁹ Jonathan answered, “What a terrible thing my father has done to our people! See how much better I feel because I ate some honey! ³⁰ How much better it would have been today if our people had eaten the food they took when they defeated the enemy. Just think how many more Philistines they would have killed!”

³¹ That day the Israelites defeated the Philistines, fighting all the way from Michmash to Aijalon. By this time the Israelites were very weak from hunger, ³² and so they rushed over to what they had captured from the enemy, took sheep and cattle, slaughtered them on the spot, and ate the meat with the blood still in it. ^33 (P)Saul was told, “Look, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating meat with the blood in it.”

“You are traitors!” Saul cried out. “Roll a big stone over here^[aj] to me.” ³⁴ Then he gave another order: “Go among the people and tell them all to bring their cattle and sheep here. They are to slaughter them and eat them here; they must not sin against the Lord by eating meat with blood in it.” So that night they all brought their cattle and slaughtered them there. ³⁵ Saul built an altar to the Lord, the first one that he built.

³⁶ Saul said to his men, “Let's go down and attack the Philistines in the night, plunder them until dawn, and kill them all.”

“Do whatever you think best,” they answered.

But the priest said, “Let's consult God first.”

³⁷ So Saul asked God, “Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you give us victory?” But God did not answer that day. ³⁸ Then Saul said to the leaders of the people, “Come here and find out what sin was committed today. ³⁹ I promise by the living Lord, who gives Israel victory, that the guilty one will be put to death, even if he is my son Jonathan.” But no one said anything. ⁴⁰ Then Saul said to them, “All of you stand over there, and Jonathan and I will stand over here.”

“Do whatever you think best,” they answered.

^41 (Q)Saul said to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Lord, why have you not answered me today? Lord, God of Israel, answer me by the sacred stones. If the guilt is Jonathan's or mine, answer by the Urim; but if it belongs to your people Israel,^[ak] answer by the Thummim.”^[al] The answer indicated Jonathan and Saul; and the people were cleared. ⁴² Then Saul said, “Decide between my son Jonathan and me.” And Jonathan was indicated. ⁴³ Then Saul asked Jonathan, “What have you done?”

Jonathan answered, “I ate a little honey with the stick I was holding. Here I am—I am ready to die.”

⁴⁴ Saul said to him, “May God strike me dead if you are not put to death!”

⁴⁵ But the people said to Saul, “Will Jonathan, who won this great victory for Israel, be put to death? No! We promise by the living Lord that he will not lose even a hair from his head. What he did today was done with God's help.” So the people saved Jonathan from being put to death.

⁴⁶ After that, Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and they went back to their own territory.

Saul's Reign and Family

⁴⁷ After Saul became king of Israel, he fought all his enemies everywhere: the people of Moab, of Ammon, and of Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he fought he was victorious.^{[am] 48} He fought heroically and defeated even the people of Amalek. He saved the Israelites from all attacks.

⁴⁹ Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. His older daughter was named Merab, and the younger one Michal. ⁵⁰ His wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz; his army commander was his cousin Abner, the son of his uncle Ner. ⁵¹ Saul's father Kish and Abner's father Ner were sons of Abiel.

⁵² As long as he lived, Saul had to fight fiercely against the Philistines. So whenever he found a man who was strong or brave, he would enlist him in his army.

War against the Amalekites

15 ^(R)Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one whom the Lord sent to anoint you king of his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord Almighty says. ^2 (S)He is going to punish the people of Amalek because their ancestors opposed the Israelites when they were coming from Egypt. ³ Go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Don't leave a thing; kill all the men, women, children, and babies; the cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys.”

⁴ Saul called his forces together and inspected them at Telem: there were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and 10,000 from Judah. ⁵ Then he and his men went to the city of Amalek and waited in ambush in a dry riverbed. ⁶ He sent a warning to the Kenites, a people whose ancestors had been kind to the Israelites when they came from Egypt: “Go away and leave the Amalekites, so that I won't kill you along with them.” So the Kenites left.

⁷ Saul defeated the Amalekites, fighting all the way from Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt; ⁸ he captured King Agag of Amalek alive and killed all the people. ⁹ But Saul and his men spared Agag's life and did not kill the best sheep and cattle, the best calves and lambs,^[an] or anything else that was good; they destroyed only what was useless or worthless.^[ao]

Saul Is Rejected as King

¹⁰ The Lord said to Samuel, ¹¹ “I am sorry that I made Saul king; he has turned away from me and disobeyed my commands.” Samuel was angry, and all night long he pleaded with the Lord. ¹² Early the following morning he went off to find Saul. He heard that Saul had gone to the town of Carmel, where he had built a monument to himself, and then had gone on to Gilgal. ¹³ Samuel went up to Saul, who greeted him, saying, “The Lord bless you, Samuel! I have obeyed the Lord's command.”

¹⁴ Samuel asked, “Why, then, do I hear cattle mooing and sheep bleating?”

¹⁵ Saul answered, “My men took them from the Amalekites. They kept the best sheep and cattle to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have destroyed completely.”^[ap]

¹⁶ “Stop,” Samuel ordered, “and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” Saul said.

¹⁷ Samuel answered, “Even though you consider yourself of no importance, you are the leader of the tribes of Israel. The Lord anointed you king of Israel, ¹⁸ and he sent you out with orders to destroy those wicked people of Amalek. He told you to fight until you had killed them all. ¹⁹ Why, then, did you not obey him? Why did you rush to grab the loot, and so do what displeases the Lord?”

²⁰ “I did obey the Lord,” Saul replied. “I went out as he told me to, brought back King Agag, and killed all the Amalekites. ²¹ But my men did not kill the best sheep and cattle that they captured; instead, they brought them here to Gilgal to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord your God.”

²² Samuel said, “Which does the Lord prefer: obedience or offerings and sacrifices? It is better to obey him than to sacrifice the best sheep to him. ²³ Rebellion against him is as bad as witchcraft, and arrogance is as sinful as idolatry. Because you rejected the Lord's command, he has rejected you as king.”

²⁴ “Yes, I have sinned,” Saul replied. “I disobeyed the Lord's command and your instructions. I was afraid of my men and did what they wanted. ²⁵ But now I beg you, forgive my sin and go back with me, so that I can worship the Lord.”

²⁶ “I will not go back with you,” Samuel answered. “You rejected the Lord's command, and he has rejected you as king of Israel.”

^27 (T)Then Samuel turned to leave, but Saul caught hold of his cloak, and it tore. ²⁸ Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today and given it to someone who is a better man than you. ²⁹ Israel's majestic God does not lie or change his mind. He is not a human being—he does not change his mind.”

³⁰ “I have sinned,” Saul replied. “But at least show me respect in front of the leaders of my people and all of Israel. Go back with me so that I can worship the Lord your God.” ³¹ So Samuel went back with him, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

³² “Bring King Agag here to me,” Samuel ordered. Agag came to him, trembling with fear, thinking to himself, “What a bitter thing it is to die!”^{[aq] 33} Samuel said, “As your sword has made many mothers childless, so now your mother will become childless.” And he cut Agag to pieces in front of the altar in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah, and King Saul went home to Gibeah. ³⁵ As long as Samuel lived, he never again saw the king; but he grieved over him. The Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king of Israel.