1 Samuel 7–9

Chapter 7

Deliverance from the Philistines

¹And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the Lord and ^abrought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.

²From the day that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

³Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “^aIf you return to the Lord with all your heart, ^bremove the foreign gods and the ^cAshtaroth from among you and ^ddirect your hearts to the Lord and ^eserve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁴So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the Lord alone.

⁵Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to ^aMizpah and ^bI will pray to the Lord for you.”

⁶They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and ^apoured it out before the Lord, and ^bfasted on that day and said there, “^cWe have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, ^athey were afraid of the Philistines.

⁸Then the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “^aDo not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁹Samuel took ^aa suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and ^bthe Lord answered him.

¹⁰Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But ^athe Lord thundered with a great ¹thunder on that day against the Philistines and ^bconfused them, so that they were ²routed before Israel.

¹¹The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car.

¹²Then Samuel ^atook a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it ¹Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

^13aSo the Philistines were subdued and ^bthey did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. So there was peace between Israel and ^athe Amorites.

Samuel’s Ministry

¹⁵Now Samuel ^ajudged Israel all the days of his life.

¹⁶He used to go annually on circuit to ^aBethel and ^bGilgal and ^cMizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places.

¹⁷Then his return was to ^aRamah, for his house was there, and there he judged Israel; and he ^bbuilt there an altar to the Lord.

Chapter 8

Israel Demands a King

¹And it came about when Samuel was old that ^ahe appointed his sons judges over Israel.

²Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in ^aBeersheba.

³His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and ^atook bribes and perverted justice.

⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^aRamah;

⁵and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now ^aappoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”

⁶But the thing was ^1adispleasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And ^bSamuel prayed to the Lord.

⁷The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for ^athey have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.

⁸“Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.

⁹“Now then, listen to their voice; ^ahowever, you shall solemnly ¹warn them and tell them of ^bthe ²procedure of the king who will reign over them.”

Warning concerning a King

¹⁰So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to ^athe people who had asked of him a king.

¹¹He said, “^aThis will be the ¹procedure of the king who will reign over you: ^bhe will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and ^cthey will run before his chariots.

¹²“^aHe will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to ¹do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

¹³“He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.

¹⁴“^aHe will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants.

¹⁵“He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants.

¹⁶“He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and ¹use them for his work.

¹⁷“He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants.

¹⁸“Then ^ayou will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but ^bthe Lord will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹Nevertheless, the people ^arefused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us,

^20athat we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

²¹Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, ^ahe repeated them in the Lord’s hearing.

²²The Lord said to Samuel, “^aListen to their voice and ¹appoint them a king.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

Chapter 9

Saul’s Search

¹Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was ^aKish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of ¹valor.

²He had a son whose name was Saul, a ^achoice and handsome man, and there was not a more handsome person than he among the sons of Israel; ^bfrom his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people.

³Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take now with you one of the servants, and arise, go search for the donkeys.”

⁴He passed through ^athe hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of ^bShalishah, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of ^cShaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them.

⁵When they came to the land of ^aZuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, and let us return, ^bor else my father will cease to be concerned about the donkeys and will become anxious for us.”

⁶He said to him, “Behold now, there is ^aa man of God in this city, and the man is held in honor; ^ball that he says surely comes true. Now let us go there, ^cperhaps he can tell us about our journey on which we have set out.”

⁷Then Saul said to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our sack and there is ^ano present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

⁸The servant answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have in my hand a fourth of a shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God and he will ^atell us our way.”

⁹(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he used to say, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is called a prophet now was formerly called ^aa seer.)

¹⁰Then Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

¹¹As they went up the slope to the city, ^athey found young women going out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?”

¹²They answered them and said, “He is; ¹see, he is ahead of you. Hurry now, for he has come into the city today, for ^athe people have a sacrifice on ^bthe high place today.

¹³“As soon as you enter the city you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat, for the people will not eat until he comes, because ^ahe must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now therefore, go up for you will find him at once.”

¹⁴So they went up to the city. As they came into the city, behold, Samuel was coming out toward them to go up to the high place.

God’s Choice for King

¹⁵Now a day before Saul’s coming, ^athe Lord had ¹revealed this to Samuel saying,

¹⁶“About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and ^ayou shall anoint him to be prince over My people Israel; and he will deliver My people from the hand of the Philistines. For ^bI have regarded My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

¹⁷When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord ¹said to him, “^aBehold, the man of whom I spoke to you! This one shall rule over My people.”

¹⁸Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.”

¹⁹Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and in the morning I will let you go, and will tell you all that is on your mind.

²⁰“^aAs for your donkeys which were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And ^bfor whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s household?”

²¹Saul replied, “^aAm I not a Benjamite, of ^bthe smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the ¹tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me in this way?”

²²Then Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who were invited, who were about thirty men.

²³Samuel said to the cook, “¹Bring the portion that I gave you, concerning which I said to you, ‘Set it ²aside.’ ”

²⁴Then the cook ^atook up the leg with what was on it and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, “Here is what has been reserved! Set it before you and eat, because it has been kept for you until the appointed time, ¹since I said I have invited the people.” So Saul ate with Samuel…