1 Samuel 7–9

¹And the men of Kirjath-Jearim come and bring up the ark of Jehovah, and bring it in unto the house of Abinadab, in the height, and Eleazar his son they have sanctified to keep the ark of Jehovah. ²And it cometh to pass, from the day of the dwelling of the ark in Kirjath-Jearim, that the days are multiplied—yea, they are twenty years—and wail do all the house of Israel after Jehovah.

³And Samuel speaketh unto all the house of Israel, saying, ‘If with all your heart ye are turning back unto Jehovah—turn aside the gods of the stranger from your midst, and Ashtaroth; and prepare your heart unto Jehovah, and serve Him only, and He doth deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.’ ⁴And the sons of Israel turn aside the Baalim and Ashtaroth, and serve Jehovah alone; ⁵and Samuel saith, ‘Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I pray for you unto Jehovah.’ ⁶And they are gathered to Mizpeh, and draw water, and pour out before Jehovah, and fast on that day, and say there, ‘We have sinned against Jehovah;’ and Samuel judgeth the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

⁷And the Philistines hear that the sons of Israel have gathered themselves to Mizpeh; and the princes of the Philistines go up against Israel, and the sons of Israel hear, and are afraid of the presence of the Philistines. ⁸And the sons of Israel say unto Samuel, ‘Keep not silent for us from crying unto Jehovah our God, and He doth save us out of the hand of the Philistines.’ ⁹And Samuel taketh a fat lamb, and causeth it to go up—a burnt-offering whole to Jehovah; and Samuel crieth unto Jehovah for Israel, and Jehovah answereth him; ¹⁰and Samuel is causing the burnt-offering to go up—and the Philistines have drawn nigh to battle against Israel—and Jehovah doth thunder with a great noise, on that day, upon the Philistines, and troubleth them, and they are smitten before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel go out from Mizpeh, and pursue the Philistines, and smite them unto the place of Beth-Car. ¹²And Samuel taketh a stone, and setteth it between Mizpeh and Shen, and calleth its name Eben-Ezer, saying, ‘Hitherto hath Jehovah helped us.’

¹³And the Philistines are humbled, and have not added any more to come into the border of Israel, and the hand of Jehovah is on the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines have taken from Israel are restored to Israel—from Ekron even unto Gath—and their border hath Israel delivered out of the hand of the Philistines; and there is peace between Israel and the Amorite. ¹⁵And Samuel judgeth Israel all the days of his life, ¹⁶and he hath gone from year to year, and gone round Beth-El, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all these places; ¹⁷and his returning is to Ramath, for there is his house, and there he hath judged Israel, and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah.

Chapter 8

¹And it cometh to pass, when Samuel is aged, that he maketh his sons judges over Israel. ²And the name of his first-born son is Joel, and the name of his second Abiah, judges in Beer-Sheba: ³and his sons have not walked in his ways, and turn aside after the dishonest gain, and take a bribe, and turn aside judgment.

⁴And all the elders of Israel gather themselves together, and come in unto Samuel to Ramath, ⁵and say unto him, ‘Lo, thou hast become aged, and thy sons have not walked in thy ways; now, appoint to us a king, to judge us, like all the nations.’ ⁶And the thing is evil in the eyes of Samuel, when they have said, ‘Give to us a king to judge us;’ and Samuel prayeth unto Jehovah. ⁷And Jehovah saith unto Samuel, ‘Hearken to the voice of the people, to all that they say unto thee, for thee they have not rejected, but Me they have rejected, from reigning over them. ⁸According to all the works that they have done from the day of My bringing them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, when they forsake Me, and serve other gods—so they are doing also to thee. ⁹And now, hearken to their voice; only, surely thou dost certainly protest to them, and hast declared to them the custom of the king who doth reign over them.’ ¹⁰And Samuel speaketh all the words of Jehovah unto the people who are asking from him a king, ¹¹and saith, ‘This is the custom of the king who doth reign over you: Your sons he doth take, and hath appointed for himself among his chariots, and among his horsemen, and they have run before his chariots; ¹²also to appoint for himself heads of thousands, and heads of fifties; also to plow his plowing, and to reap his reaping; and to make instruments of his war, and instruments of his charioteer.

¹³‘And your daughters he doth take for perfumers, and for cooks, and for bakers; ¹⁴and your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards—the best—he doth take, and hath given to his servants. ¹⁵And your seed and your vineyards he doth tithe, and hath given to his eunuchs, and to his servants. ¹⁶And your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your young men—the best, and your asses, he doth take, and hath prepared for his own work; ¹⁷your flock he doth tithe, and ye are to him for servants. ¹⁸And ye have cried out in that day because of the king whom ye have chosen for yourselves, and Jehovah doth not answer you in that day.’ ¹⁹And the people refuse to hearken to the voice of Samuel, and say, ‘Nay, but a king is over us, ²⁰and we have been, even we, like all the nations; and our king hath judged us, and gone out before us, and fought our battles.’ ²¹And Samuel heareth all the words of the people, and speaketh them in the ears of Jehovah; ²²and Jehovah saith unto Samuel, ‘Hearken to their voice, and thou hast caused to reign over them a king.’ And Samuel saith unto the men of Israel, ‘Go ye each to his city.’

Chapter 9

¹And there is a man of Benjamin, and his name is Kish, son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Bechorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, mighty of valour, ²and he hath a son, and his name is Saul, a choice youth and goodly, and there is not a man among the sons of Israel goodlier than he—from his shoulder and upward, higher than any of the people.

³And the asses of Kish, father of Saul, are lost, and Kish saith unto Saul his son, ‘Take, I pray thee, with thee, one of the young men, and rise, go, seek the asses.’ ⁴And he passeth over through the hill-country of Ephraim, and passeth over through the land of Shalisha, and they have not found; and they pass over through the land of Shaalim, and they are not; and he passeth over through the land of Benjamin, and they have not found. ⁵They have come in unto the land of Zuph, and Saul hath said to his young man who is with him, ‘Come, and we turn back, lest my father leave off from the asses, and hath been sorrowful for us.’ ⁶And he saith to him, ‘Lo, I pray thee, a man of God is in this city, and the man is honoured; all that he speaketh doth certainly come; now, we go there, it may be he doth declare to us our way on which we have gone.’ ⁷And Saul saith to his young man, ‘And lo, we go, and what do we bring in to the man? for the bread hath gone from our vessels, and a present there is not to bring in to the man of God—what is with us?’ ⁸And the young man addeth to answer Saul, and saith, ‘Lo, there is found with me a fourth of a shekel of silver: and I have given to the man of God, and he hath declared to us our way.’ ⁹Formerly in Israel, thus said the man in his going to seek God, ‘Come and we go unto the seer,’ for the ‘prophet’ of to-day is called formerly ‘the seer.’ ¹⁰And Saul saith to his young man, ‘Thy word is good; come, we go;’ and they go unto the city where the man of God is.

¹¹They are going up in the ascent of the city, and have found young women going out to draw water, and say to them, ‘Is the seer in this place?’ ¹²And they answer them and say, ‘He is; lo, before thee! haste, now, for to-day he hath come in to the city, for the people hath a stated sacrifice in a high place. ¹³At your going in to the city so ye do find him, before he doth go up in to the high place to eat; for the people do not eat till his coming, for he doth bless the sacrifice; afterwards they eat, who are called, and now, go up, for at this time ye find him.’ ¹⁴And they go up in to the city; they are coming in to the midst of the city, and lo, Samuel is coming out to meet them, to go up to the high place; ¹⁵and Jehovah had uncovered the ear of Samuel one day before the coming of Saul, saying, ¹⁶‘At this time tomorrow, I send unto thee a man out of the land of Benjamin—and thou hast anointed him for leader over My people Israel, and he hath saved My people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen My people, for its cry hath come in unto Me.’ ¹⁷When Samuel hath seen Saul, then hath Jehovah answered him, ‘Lo, the man of whom I have spoken unto thee; this one doth restrain My people.’

¹⁸And Saul draweth nigh to Samuel in the midst of the gate, and saith, ‘Declare, I pray thee, to me, where is this—the seer’s house?’ ¹⁹And Samuel answereth Saul and saith, ‘I am the seer; go up before me into the high place, and ye have eaten with me to-day, and I have sent thee away in the morning, and all that is in thy heart I declare to thee. ²⁰As to the asses which are lost to thee this day three days, set not thy heart to them, for they have been found; and to whom is all the desire of Israel?’ is it not to thee and to all thy father’s house?’ ²¹And Saul answereth and saith, ‘Am not I a Benjamite—of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? and why hast thou spoken unto me according to this word?’ ²²And Samuel taketh Saul, and his young man, and bringeth them in to the chamber, and giveth to them a place at the head of those called; and they are about thirty men. ²³And Samuel saith to the cook, ‘Give the portion which I gave to thee, of which I said unto thee, ‘Set it by thee?’ ²⁴(and the cook lifteth up the leg, and that which is on it, and setteth before Saul), and he saith, ‘Lo, that which is left; set it before thee—eat, for to this…