1 Samuel 10–12

Chapter 10

Saul among Prophets

¹Then ^aSamuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, ^bkissed him and said, “Has not ^cthe Lord anointed you a ruler over ^dHis inheritance?

²“When you go from me today, then you will find two men close to ^aRachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘^bThe donkeys which you went to look for have been found. Now behold, your father has ¹ceased to be concerned about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’

³“Then you will go on further from there, and you will come as far as the ^1aoak of Tabor, and there three men going up ^bto God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine;

⁴and they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand.

⁵“Afterward you will come to ^1athe hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet ^ba group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and ^cthey will be prophesying.

⁶“Then ^athe Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and ^byou shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man.

⁷“It shall be when these signs come to you, ^ado for yourself what ¹the occasion requires, for ^bGod is with you.

⁸“And ^ayou shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and ^bsacrifice peace offerings. ^cYou shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do.”

⁹Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God ^achanged ¹his heart; and all those signs came about on that day.

^10aWhen they came to ¹the hill there, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them.

¹¹It came about, when all who knew him previously saw that he prophesied now with the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? ^aIs Saul also among the prophets?”

¹²A man there said, “Now, who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “^aIs Saul also among the prophets?”

¹³When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴Now ^aSaul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “^bTo look for the donkeys. When we saw that they could not be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶So Saul said to his uncle, “^aHe told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned.

Saul Publicly Chosen King

¹⁷Thereafter Samuel called the ^apeople together to the Lord at Mizpah;

¹⁸and he said to the sons of Israel, “^aThus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the ¹power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’

¹⁹“But you ^ahave today rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have ¹said, ‘No, but set a king over us!’ Now therefore, ^bpresent yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”

²⁰Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.

²¹Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the Matrite family was taken. And Saul the son of Kish was taken; but when they looked for him, he could not be found.

²²Therefore ^athey inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” So the Lord said, “Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.”

²³So they ran and took him from there, and when he stood among the people, ^ahe was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.

²⁴Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^awhom the Lord has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people shouted and said, “^1bLong live the king!”

²⁵Then Samuel told the people ^athe ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book and ^bplaced it before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house.

²⁶Saul also went ^ato his house at Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him.

²⁷But certain ^1aworthless men said, “How can this one deliver us?” And they despised him and ^bdid not bring him any present. But he kept silent.

Chapter 11

Saul Defeats the Ammonites

¹Now ^aNahash the Ammonite came up and ¹besieged ^bJabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make ^ca covenant with us and we will serve you.”

²But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “I will make it with you on this condition, ^athat I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it ^ba reproach on all Israel.”

^3aThe elders of Jabesh said to him, “Let us alone for seven days, that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to deliver us, we will come out to you.”

⁴Then the messengers came ^ato Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people ^blifted up their voices and wept.

⁵Now behold, Saul was coming from the field ^abehind the oxen, and ¹he said, “What is the matter with the people that they weep?” So they related to him the words of the men of Jabesh.

⁶Then ^athe Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and ¹he became very angry.

⁷He took a yoke of oxen and ^acut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “^bWhoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” Then the dread of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out ^cas one man.

⁸He ¹numbered them in ^aBezek; and the ^bsons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000.

⁹They said to the messengers who had come, “Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have deliverance.’ ” So the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.

¹⁰Then the men of Jabesh said, “^aTomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good ¹to you.”

¹¹The next morning Saul put the people ^ain three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp at the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

¹²Then the people said to Samuel, “^aWho is he that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ ^1bBring the men, that we may put them to death.”

¹³But Saul said, “^aNot a man shall be put to death this day, for today ^bthe Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel.”

¹⁴Then Samuel said to the people, “Come and let us go to ^aGilgal and ^brenew the kingdom there.”

¹⁵So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king ^abefore the Lord in Gilgal. There they also ^boffered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

Chapter 12

Samuel Addresses Israel

¹Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, ^aI have listened to your voice in all that you said to me and I ^bhave ¹appointed a king over you.

²“Now, ^ahere is the king walking before you, but ^bI am old and gray, and behold ^cmy sons are with you. And ^dI have walked before you from my youth even to this day.

³“Here I am; bear witness against me before the Lord and ^aHis anointed. ^bWhose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or ^cfrom whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you.”

⁴They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.”

⁵He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day that ^ayou have found nothing ^bin my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

⁶Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who ^1aappointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt.

⁷“So now, take your stand, ^athat I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which He did for you and your fathers.

⁸“^aWhen Jacob went into Egypt and ^byour fathers cried out to the Lord, then ^cthe Lord sent Moses and Aaron ^1dwho brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

⁹“But ^athey forgot the Lord their God, so ^bHe sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and ^cinto the hand of the Philistines and ^dinto the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

¹⁰“^aThey cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served ^bthe Baals and the Ashtaroth; but ^cnow deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’

¹¹“Then the Lord sent ^aJerubbaal and ^1bBedan and ^cJephthah and ^dSamuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security.

The King Confirmed

¹²“When you saw ^athat Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘^bNo, but a king shall reign over us,’ ^calthough the Lord your God was your king.

¹³“Now therefore, ^ahere is the king whom you have chosen, ^bwhom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has set a king over you.

¹⁴“^aIf you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the ¹command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God.

¹⁵“^aIf you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the ¹command of the Lord, then ^bthe hand of the Lord will be against you, ^cas it was against your fathers.

¹⁶“Even now, ^atake your stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes.

¹⁷“^aIs it not the wheat harvest today? ^bI will call to the Lord, that He may send ¹thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that ^cyour wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for…