1 Samuel 11–13

Nahash Troubles Jabesh Gilead

11About a month later Nahash the Ammonite and his army surrounded the city of Jabesh in Gilead. All the people of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

²But he answered, “I will make a treaty with you only if I’m allowed to poke out the right eye of each of you. Then all Israel will be ashamed!”

³The elders of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Give us seven days to send messengers through all Israel. If no one comes to help us, we will give ourselves up to you.”

⁴When the messengers came to Gibeah where Saul lived and told the people the news, they cried loudly. ⁵Saul was coming home from plowing the fields with his oxen when he heard the people crying. He asked, “What’s wrong with the people that they are crying?” Then they told Saul what the messengers from Jabesh had said. ⁶When Saul heard their words, God’s Spirit rushed upon him with power, and he became very angry. ⁷So he took a pair of oxen and cut them into pieces. Then he gave the pieces of the oxen to messengers and ordered them to carry them through all the land of Israel.

The messengers said, “This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” So the people became very afraid of the Lord. They all came together as if they were one person. ⁸Saul gathered the people together at Bezek. There were three hundred thousand men from Israel and thirty thousand men from Judah.

⁹They said to the messengers who had come, “Tell the people at Jabesh Gilead this: ‘Before the day warms up tomorrow, you will be saved.’ ” So the messengers went and reported this to the people at Jabesh, and they were very happy. ¹⁰The people said to Nahash the Ammonite, “Tomorrow we will come out to meet you. Then you can do anything you want to us.”

¹¹The next morning Saul divided his soldiers into three groups. At dawn they entered the Ammonite camp and defeated them before the heat of the day. The Ammonites who escaped were scattered; no two of them were still together.

¹²Then the people said to Samuel, “Who didn’t want Saul as king? Bring them here and we will kill them!”

¹³But Saul said, “No! No one will be put to death today. Today the Lord has saved Israel!”

¹⁴Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let’s go to Gilgal. There we will again promise to obey the king.” ¹⁵So all the people went to Gilgal, and there, before the Lord, the people made Saul king. They offered fellowship offerings to the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites had a great celebration.

Samuel’s Farewell Speech

12Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done everything you wanted me to do and have put a king over you. ²Now you have a king to lead you. I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader since I was young. ³Here I am. If I have done anything wrong, you must testify against me before the Lord and his appointed king. Did I steal anyone’s ox or donkey? Did I hurt or cheat anyone? Did I ever secretly accept money to pretend not to see something wrong? If I did any of these things, I will make it right.”

⁴The Israelites answered, “You have not cheated us, or hurt us, or taken anything unfairly from anyone.”

⁵Samuel said to them, “The Lord is a witness to what you have said. His appointed king is also a witness today that you did not find anything wrong in me.”

“He is our witness,” they said.

⁶Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who chose Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors out of Egypt. ⁷Now, stand there, and I will remind you of all the good things the Lord did for you and your ancestors.

⁸“After Jacob entered Egypt, his descendants cried to the Lord for help. So the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who took your ancestors out of Egypt and brought them to live in this place.

⁹“But they forgot the Lord their God. So he handed them over as slaves to Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and as slaves to the Philistines and the king of Moab. They all fought against your ancestors. ¹⁰Then your ancestors cried to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned. We have left the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now save us from our enemies, and we will serve you.’ ¹¹So the Lord sent Gideon, ⁿ Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel. He saved you from your enemies around you, and you lived in safety. ¹²But when you saw Nahash king of the Ammonites coming against you, you said, ‘No! We want a king to rule over us!’—even though the Lord your God was your king. ¹³Now here is the king you chose, the one you asked for. The Lord has put him over you. ¹⁴You must honor the Lord and serve him. You must obey his word and not turn against his commands. Both you and the king ruling over you must follow the Lord your God. If you do, it will be well with you. ¹⁵But if you don’t obey the Lord, and if you turn against his commands, he will be against you. He will do to you what he did to your ancestors.

¹⁶“Now stand still and see the great thing the Lord will do before your eyes. ¹⁷It is now the time of the wheat harvest. ⁿ I will pray for the Lord to send thunder and rain. Then you will know what an evil thing you did against the Lord when you asked for a king.”

¹⁸Then Samuel prayed to the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So the people were very afraid of the Lord and Samuel. ¹⁹They said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for us, your servants! Don’t let us die! We’ve added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.”

²⁰Samuel answered, “Don’t be afraid. It’s true that you did wrong, but don’t turn away from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹Idols are of no use, so don’t worship them. They can’t help you or save you. They are useless! ²²For his own sake, the Lord won’t leave his people. Instead, he was pleased to make you his own people. ²³I will surely not stop praying for you, because that would be sinning against the Lord. I will teach you what is good and right. ²⁴You must honor the Lord and truly serve him with all your heart. Remember the wonderful things he did for you! ²⁵But if you are stubborn and do evil, he will sweep you and your king away.”

13Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he was king over Israel forty-two years. ^{n 2}Saul chose three thousand men from Israel. Two thousand men stayed with him at Micmash in the mountains of Bethel, and one thousand men stayed with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. Saul sent the other men in the army back home.

³Jonathan attacked the Philistine camp in Geba, and the other Philistines heard about it. Saul said, “Let the Hebrews hear what happened.” So he told the men to blow trumpets through all the land of Israel. ⁴All the Israelites heard the news. The men said, “Saul has defeated the Philistine camp. Now the Philistines will really hate us!” Then the Israelites were called to join Saul at Gilgal.

⁵The Philistines gathered to fight Israel with three thousand ⁿ chariots and six thousand men to ride in them. Their soldiers were as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. The Philistines went and camped at Micmash, which is east of Beth Aven. ⁶When the Israelites saw that they were in trouble, they went to hide in caves and bushes, among the rocks, and in pits and wells. ⁷Some Hebrews even went across the Jordan River to the land of Gad and Gilead.

But Saul stayed at Gilgal, and all the men in his army were shaking with fear. ⁸Saul waited seven days, because Samuel had said he would meet him then. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the soldiers began to leave.

⁹So Saul said, “Bring me the whole burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” Then Saul offered the whole burnt offering. ¹⁰Just as he finished, Samuel arrived, and Saul went to greet him.

¹¹Samuel asked, “What have you done?”

Saul answered, “I saw the soldiers leaving me, and you were not here when you said you would be. The Philistines were gathering at Micmash. ¹²Then I thought, ‘The Philistines will come against me at Gilgal, and I haven’t asked for the Lord’s approval.’ So I forced myself to offer the whole burnt offering.”

¹³Samuel said, “You acted foolishly! You haven’t obeyed the command of the Lord your God. If you had obeyed him, the Lord would have made your kingdom continue in Israel always, ¹⁴but now your kingdom will not continue. The Lord has looked for the kind of man he wants. He has appointed him to rule his people, because you haven’t obeyed his command.”

¹⁵Then Samuel left Gilgal and went to Gibeah in Benjamin. Saul counted the men who were still with him, and there were about six hundred.

Hard Times for Israel

¹⁶Saul and his son Jonathan and the soldiers with him stayed in Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. The Philistines made their camp at Micmash. ¹⁷Three groups went out from the Philistine camp to make raids. One group went on the Ophrah road in the land of Shual. ¹⁸The second group went on the Beth Horon road. The third group went on the border road that overlooks the Valley of Zeboim toward the desert.

¹⁹The whole land of Israel had no blacksmith because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews might make swords and spears.” ²⁰So all the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines to have their plows, hoes, axes, and sickles sharpened. ²¹The Philistine blacksmiths charged about one-fourth of an ounce of silver for sharpening plows and hoes. And they charged one-eighth of an ounce of silver for sharpening picks, axes, and the sticks used to guide oxen.

²²So when the battle came, the soldiers with Saul and Jonathan had no swords or spears. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

Israel Defeats the Philistines

²³A group from the Philistine army had gone out to the pass at Micmash.