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10 Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul’s head, and kissed him on the cheek and said,
“I am doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the king of his people, Israel! 2 When you leave me, you will see two men beside Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah, in the land of Benjamin; they will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father is worried about you and is asking, ‘How am I to find my son?’ 3 And when you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming toward you who are on their way to worship God at the altar at Bethel; one will be bringing three young goats, another will have three loaves of bread, and the third will have a bottle of wine. 4 They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves, which you are to accept. 5 After that you will come to Gibeath-elohim, also known as “God’s Hill,” where the garrison of the Philistines is. As you arrive there you will meet a band of prophets coming down the hill playing a psaltery, a timbrel, a flute, and a harp, and prophesying as they come.
6 “At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you and you will prophesy with them, and you will feel and act like a different person. 7 From that time on your decisions should be based on whatever seems best under the circumstances, for the Lord will guide you. 8 Go to Gilgal and wait there seven days for me, for I will be coming to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. I will give you further instructions when I arrive.”
9 As Saul said good-bye and started to go, God gave him a new attitude, and all of Samuel’s prophecies came true that day. 10 When Saul and the servant arrived at the Hill of God, they saw the prophets coming toward them, and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he too began to prophesy.
11 When his friends heard about it, they exclaimed, “What? Saul a prophet?” 12 And one of the neighbors added, “With a father like his?” So that is the origin of the proverb, “Is Saul a prophet too?”[a]
13 When Saul had finished prophesying he climbed the hill to the altar.
14 “Where in the world did you go?” Saul’s uncle asked him.
And Saul replied, “We went to look for the donkeys, but we couldn’t find them; so we went to the prophet Samuel to ask him where they were.”
15 “Oh? And what did he say?” his uncle asked.
16 “He said the donkeys had been found!” Saul replied. (But he didn’t tell him that he had been anointed as king!)
17 Samuel now called a convocation of all Israel at Mizpah 18-19 and gave them this message from the Lord God: “I brought you from Egypt and rescued you from the Egyptians and from all of the nations that were torturing you. But although I have done so much for you, you have rejected me and have said, ‘We want a king instead!’ All right, then, present yourselves before the Lord by tribes and clans.”
20 So Samuel called the tribal leaders together before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by sacred lot. 21 Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally the sacred lot selected Saul, the son of Kish. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared!
22 So they asked the Lord, “Where is he? Is he here among us?”
And the Lord replied, “He is hiding in the baggage.”
23 So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else.
24 Then Samuel said to all the people, “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. There isn’t his equal in all of Israel!”
And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
25 Then Samuel told the people again what the rights and duties of a king were; he wrote them in a book and put it in a special place before the Lord. Then Samuel sent the people home again.
26 When Saul returned to his home at Gibeah, a band of men whose hearts the Lord had touched became his constant companions. 27 There were, however, some bums and loafers who exclaimed, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and refused to bring him presents, but he took no notice.
11 At this time Nahash led the army of the Ammonites against the Israeli city of Jabesh-gilead. But the citizens of Jabesh asked for peace. “Leave us alone and we will be your servants,” they pleaded.
2 “All right,” Nahash said, “but only on one condition: I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you as a disgrace upon all Israel!”
3 “Give us seven days to see if we can get some help!” replied the elders of Jabesh. “If none of our brothers will come and save us, we will agree to your terms.”
4 When a messenger came to Gibeah, Saul’s hometown, and told the people about their plight, everyone broke into tears.
5 Saul was plowing in the field, and when he returned to town he asked, “What’s the matter? Why is everyone crying?”
So they told him about the message from Jabesh. 6 Then the Spirit of God came strongly upon Saul and he became very angry. 7 He took two oxen and cut them into pieces and sent messengers to carry them throughout all Israel.
“This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who refuses to follow Saul and Samuel to battle!” he announced. And God caused the people to be afraid of Saul’s anger, and they came to him as one man. 8 He counted them in Bezek and found that there were three hundred thousand of them in addition to thirty thousand from Judah.
9 So he sent the messengers back to Jabesh-gilead to say, “We will rescue you before tomorrow noon!” What joy there was throughout the city when that message arrived!
10 The men of Jabesh then told their enemies, “We surrender. Tomorrow we will come out to you and you can do to us as you wish.”
11 But early the next morning Saul arrived, having divided his army into three detachments, and launched a surprise attack against the Ammonites and slaughtered them all morning. The remnant of their army was so badly scattered that no two of them were left together.
12 Then the people exclaimed to Samuel, “Where are those men who said that Saul shouldn’t be our king? Bring them here and we will kill them!”
13 But Saul replied, “No one will be executed today; for today the Lord has rescued Israel!”
14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us all go to Gilgal and reconfirm Saul as our king.”
15 So they went to Gilgal and in a solemn ceremony before the Lord they crowned him king. Then they offered peace offerings to the Lord, and Saul and all Israel were very happy.
43 But Jesus replied, “Don’t murmur among yourselves about my saying that. 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me, and at the Last Day I will cause all such to rise again from the dead. 45 As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They shall all be taught of God.’ Those the Father speaks to, who learn the truth from him, will be attracted to me. 46 (Not that anyone actually sees the Father, for only I have seen him.)
47 “How earnestly I tell you this—anyone who believes in me already has eternal life! 48-51 Yes, I am the Bread of Life! When your fathers in the wilderness ate bread from the skies, they all died. But the Bread from heaven gives eternal life to everyone who eats it. I am that Living Bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread shall live forever; this Bread is my flesh given to redeem humanity.”
52 Then the Jews began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
53 So Jesus said it again, “With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you eat the flesh of the Messiah[a] and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him at the Last Day. 55 For my flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. 56 Everyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood is in me, and I in him. 57 I live by the power of the living Father who sent me, and in the same way those who partake of me shall live because of me! 58 I am the true Bread from heaven; and anyone who eats this Bread shall live forever, and not die as your fathers did—though they ate bread from heaven.” 59 (He preached this sermon in the synagogue in Capernaum.)
60 Even his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. Who can tell what he means?”
61 Jesus knew within himself that his disciples were complaining and said to them,
65 And he remarked, “That is what I meant when I said that no one can come to me unless the Father attracts him to me.”
66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.
67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you going too?”
68 Simon Peter replied, “Master, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life, 69 and we believe them and know you are the holy Son of God.”
70 Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, and one is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would betray him.
107 Say thank you to the Lord for being so good, for always being so loving and kind. 2 Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has saved you from your enemies.
3 He brought the exiles back from the farthest corners of the earth. 4 They were wandering homeless in the desert, 5 hungry and thirsty and faint. 6 “Lord, help!” they cried, and he did! 7 He led them straight to safety and a place to live. 8 Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness, and for all of his wonderful deeds! 9 For he satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with good.
10 Who are these who sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, crushed by misery and slavery? 11 They rebelled against the Lord, scorning him who is the God above all gods. 12 That is why he broke them with hard labor; they fell and none could help them rise again. 13 Then they cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he rescued them! 14 He led them from the darkness and shadow of death and snapped their chains. 15 Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds! 16 For he broke down their prison gates of brass and cut apart their iron bars.
17 Others, the fools, were ill because of their sinful ways. 18 Their appetites were gone, and death was near. 19 Then they cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he helped them and delivered them. 20 He spoke, and they were healed—snatched from the door of death. 21 Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds! 22 Let them tell him thank you as their sacrifice and sing about his glorious deeds.
23 And then there are the sailors sailing the seven seas, plying the trade routes of the world. 24 They, too, observe the power of God in action. 25 He calls to the storm winds; the waves rise high. 26 Their ships are tossed to the heavens and sink again to the depths; the sailors cringe in terror. 27 They reel and stagger like drunkards and are at their wit’s end. 28 Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and he saves them. 29 He calms the storm and stills the waves. 30 What a blessing is that stillness as he brings them safely into harbor! 31 Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds! 32 Let them praise him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.
33 He dries up rivers 34 and turns the good land of the wicked into deserts of salt. 35 Again, he turns deserts into fertile, watered valleys. 36 He brings the hungry to settle there and build their cities, 37 to sow their fields and plant their vineyards, and reap their bumper crops! 38 How he blesses them! They raise big families there and many cattle.
39 But others become poor through oppression, trouble, and sorrow. 40 For God pours contempt upon the haughty and causes princes to wander among ruins; 41 but he rescues the poor who are godly and gives them many children and much prosperity. 42 Good men everywhere will see it and be glad, while evil men are stricken silent.
43 Listen, if you are wise, to what I am saying. Think about the loving-kindness of the Lord!
15 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words cause quarrels.
2 A wise teacher makes learning a joy; a rebellious teacher spouts foolishness.
3 The Lord is watching everywhere and keeps his eye on both the evil and the good.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.