1 Samuel 7–9

And the men of ^aKirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of ^bAbinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.

²And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long: for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. ³And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do ^creturn unto the Lord with all your hearts, then ^dput away the strange gods and ^eAshtaroth from among you, and ^fprepare your hearts unto the Lord, and ^gserve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁴Then the children of Israel did put away ^eBaalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only. ⁵And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to ^hMizpeh, and ⁱI will pray for you unto the Lord. ⁶And they gathered together to Mizpeh, ^kand drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and ^lfasted on that day, and said there, ^mWe have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh. ⁷And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸And the children of Israel said to Samuel, ⁿCease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁹And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord: and ^oSamuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him. ¹⁰And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord ^pthundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and ^qdiscomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car. ¹²Then Samuel took ^ra stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, ^sHitherto hath the Lord helped us. ^13tSo the Philistines were subdued, and ^uthey came no more into the coast of Israel: and ^wthe hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from ^xEkron even unto ^yGath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the ^zAmorites. ¹⁵And Samuel ^ajudged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶And he went from year to year in circuit to ^bBeth-el, and ^cGilgal, and ^dMizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷And his return was to ^eRamah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he ^fbuilt an altar unto the Lord.

VIII.And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he ^amade his ^bsons judges over Israel. ²Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in ^cBeer-sheba. ³And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside ^dafter lucre, and ^etook bribes, and perverted judgment. ⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto ^fRamah, ⁵and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now ^gmake us a king to judge us like all the nations. ⁶But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. ⁷And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for ^hthey have not rejected thee, but ⁱthey have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. ⁸According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. ⁹Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and ^jshew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

¹⁰And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. ¹¹And he said, ^kThis will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: ^lHe will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. ¹²And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ^mear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. ¹³And he will take your daughters to be ⁿconfectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. ¹⁴And ^ohe will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. ¹⁶And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. ¹⁷He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. ¹⁸And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord ^pwill not hear you in that day.

¹⁹Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us; ²⁰that we also may be ^qlike all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. ²¹And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. ²²And the Lord said to Samuel, ^rHearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

IX.Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was ^aKish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. ²And he had a son, whose name was Saul, ^ba choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: ^cfrom his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. ³And the asses of Kish Saul’s father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses. ⁴And he passed through ^dmount Ephraim, and passed through the land of ^eShalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of ^fShalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not. ⁵And when they were come to the land of ^gZuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and ^htake thought for us. ⁶And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city ⁱa man of God, and he is an honourable man; ^jall that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go. ⁷Then said Saul to his servant, But behold, if we go, ^kwhat shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to ⁱthe man of God: what have we? ⁸And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way. ⁹(Beforetime in Israel, when a man ^lwent to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called ^ma Seer.) ¹⁰Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God was. ¹¹And as they went up the hill to the city, they found ⁿyoung maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here? ¹²And they answered them, and said, He is; behold, he is before you: make haste now, for he came to day to the city; for there is a sacrifice of the people to day in ^othe high place: ¹³as soon as ye be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to ^othe high place to eat: for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him. ¹⁴And they went up into the city: and when they were come into the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place.

^15pNow the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, ¹⁶To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and ^qthou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have ^rlooked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. ¹⁷And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord ^ssaid unto him, ^tBehold the man whom I spake to thee of: this same shall reign over my people. ¹⁸Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer’s house is. ¹⁹And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart. ²⁰And as for ^uthine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father’s house? ²¹And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the ^wsmallest of the tribes of Israel? and ^xmy family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me? ²²And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the ^yparlour, and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty persons. ²³And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee. ²⁴And the cook took up ^zthe shoulder, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which is left; set it before thee, and eat: for unto this time hath it…