I Samuel 8-15

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. The eldest was named Joel, and the second was named Abijah. They ruled the land from Beersheba. But they did not follow their father's example: they sought their own advantage, took bribes, and perverted justice. The elders of Israel therefore gathered together and went to Ramah, to Samuel. "You are old," they said, "and your sons do not follow your example. Appoint a king to rule us, as all other nations have."

Samuel thought it was unacceptable that they asked for a king, so he prayed to the LORD. But the LORD replied, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they ask of you. They are not rejecting you. They are rejecting Me as their king. This is how it has always been, from the day I brought them out of Egypt until now. They have turned their backs on me and served other gods, and now the same thing is happening to you. So grant their request, but warn them by clearly pointing out the rights that the king who will rule over them can enforce."

Samuel told the people who asked for a king everything the LORD had said. Then he declared:

"These are the rights that the king who will rule over you may enforce:

• He will take your sons and assign them to his chariots, his cavalry, and his personal bodyguard, or to serve as commanders of thousands or of fifties. He will make them plow his fields, reap his harvest, and make his weapons and chariots.
• He will take your daughters to prepare ointments and to cook and bake.
• He will take your most fertile lands, vineyards, and olive groves and assign them to his courtiers.
• He will demand a tenth of the produce of your fields and vineyards and give it to his courtiers and high officials.
• He will take away your best male and female slaves and your strongest laborers to work for him, and also your donkeys.
• He will demand a tenth of your sheep and goats, and you yourself will have to serve him.

And when you cry out to the LORD against the king you have chosen for yourselves, he will not answer you."

The people ignored Samuel's words and said, "No, we want a king, and nothing else will do! Only then will we be like all the other nations. We want a king to rule us and judge us, to lead us and go before us in battle."

Samuel listened to what the people had to say and reported it to the LORD. Then the LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to their request and appoint a king over them."

And Samuel told the Israelites to return to their own towns.

*

There was a man in Benjamin named Kish. He was the son of Abiel, who was the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah. He belonged to the tribe of Benjamin and was a prominent man. He had a son named Saul, a tall, well-built young man who stood head and shoulders above everyone else in Israel. Once, when his donkeys were lost, Kish said to his son, "Go with one of the servants and look for the donkeys."

Saul traversed the hill country of Ephraim. He searched in the region of Shalisha, but they did not find them. He searched in the region of Shaalim, but there was no trace of the donkeys. So they searched the entire territory of Benjamin without finding them. When they finally reached the region of Shuph, Saul said to his servant, "Come, let's go back, or my father will be more worried about us than about his donkeys."

But the servant replied, "We are now at the city where a prophet lives. He is highly regarded, and what he says always comes true. Let us go to him. Perhaps he can show us the way we should go."

"If we do that," Saul asked, "what can we give that man? We have no food left, so we cannot offer him anything to eat. And besides, we have nothing else with us."

"I still have a piece of silver," said the servant. "I will give it to the prophet, and he will show us the way." (In the past, when someone wanted to ask God for advice, people in Israel would say, "Come, let us go to the seer," because what is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)

"That's a good idea," Saul said to his servant. "Come, let's go." And they went to the city where the prophet lived.

As they went up the slope to the city, they met some girls who were on their way to draw water. "Is the seer in the city?" they asked.

"Yes, he is," replied the girls. "If you hurry, you will still find him. He has just returned to the city today for the feast of sacrifice. If you enter the city now, you will find him before he goes to the sacrificial altar for the sacrificial meal. The guests are waiting for him to eat, because he must bless the sacrifice before they begin the meal. Keep walking, and you can't miss him."

They walked on toward the city, and just as they were about to enter the gate, they met Samuel, who was on his way out to the place of sacrifice. The day before Saul arrived, the LORD had revealed to Samuel: "Tomorrow at this time I will send you a man from Benjamin. You shall anoint him as ruler over my people Israel. He will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have looked upon their affliction and heard their cry for help." As soon as Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, "This is the man I told you about. He will rule over my people."

At the city gate, Saul approached Samuel and asked him, “Can you tell me where the seer lives?”

"I am the seer," Samuel replied. "Be my guest and come with me to the place of sacrifice. Today you will eat with me, and tomorrow morning I will send you on your way. I will tell you everything that is on your mind. As for the donkeys that have been missing for three days, don't worry, they have been found. But who is all Israel eagerly searching for? For you and your family!"

"But I belong to Benjamin, one of the smallest tribes of Israel," Saul objected. "And in that tribe, my family is the least important. How can you say such a thing?"

Samuel took Saul and his servant to the dining room and gave them a place at the head of the table. There were thirty guests. Samuel said to the cook who had prepared the sacrificial meal, "Now serve the piece of meat that I gave you and asked you to set aside."

The man took the right hind leg and served it to Saul. "Help yourself," said Samuel, "this piece has been set aside especially for you on the occasion of this gathering, which I have arranged."

Then Saul ate with Samuel. Afterward, they went down from the high place to the city, where Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof of his house.

The next morning, at daybreak, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "Get up, I will send you on your way."

Saul went out with Samuel. As they walked down from the city, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell your servant to go on ahead."

When the servant had gone some distance ahead, Samuel said, "Wait here a moment, and I will tell you what God has in store for you." He poured a jar of oil on Saul's head, kissed him, and said, "The LORD anoints you as ruler over the people who belong to him."

Then he said, "When you leave us, you will meet two men at Rachel's tomb in Selsach on the border with Benjamin. They will tell you that the donkeys you were looking for have been found, and that your father is no longer worried about them, but is concerned about you and wonders what he should do to find you. When you continue on your way and arrive at the Tabor Oak, you will meet three men on their way to worship God in Bethel. The first has three young goats with him, the second three loaves of bread, and the third a bag of wine. They will ask you how you are and give you two loaves of bread, which you must accept. Finally, when you arrive in Gibeah-Elohim, you will encounter a procession of prophets near the city, at the Philistine guard post, descending from the sacrificial altar in ecstasy, preceded by musicians with harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres. Then you will be seized by the spirit of the LORD and become ecstatic, and you will become a different person. During the events I have just predicted, you may do whatever your heart tells you, for God is with you. Then go on to Gilgal and wait there for me for seven days. I will follow you to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. After that, I will let you know what to do next.

And indeed, as soon as Saul turned to continue on his way, God brought about a change in him. And all the predicted events came to pass that very day. When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets came to meet them. Saul was seized by the spirit of God and, like them, fell into a trance. All who knew him from before and saw that he had joined the prophets in ecstasy said to one another, "What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul now also among the prophets?" And one of them remarked, "Who is their father?" Thus we come to the expression, "Is Saul now also among the prophets?"

When his ecstasy was over, Saul went to the place of sacrifice. His uncle came up to him and asked him and his servant where they had been. "We were looking for the donkeys," Saul replied. "But we couldn't find them, so we went to Samuel."

"And what did he say to you?" asked Saul's uncle.

"He told us that the donkeys were found," Saul replied. But he did not tell him that Samuel had spoken about the kingship.

*

Samuel called the people to gather before the LORD at Mizpah. There he addressed the Israelites as follows: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am the one who brought you out of Egypt. I freed you from the clutches of Egypt and all the other kingdoms that oppressed you. But now you have rejected your God, who has saved you from all your troubles and misery, and you are asking Him to appoint a king over you. Now, line up before the LORD by tribe and by family."

Samuel had the tribes of Israel come forward, and the lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin. Then he had the families of the tribe of Benjamin come forward, and the lot fell on the family of Matri. Finally, the lot fell on Saul, the son of Kis.

They went to look for him, but they could not find him. So they consulted the LORD again: "Where is the man who is missing?"

"There he is," said the LORD. "He is hiding among the baggage."

They ran to him and brought him out. When he stood among the people, he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Samuel said to the Israelites, "Do you see the man the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people!"

And the people cheered and shouted, “Long live the king!”

Then Samuel explained to the people the rights associated with kingship and wrote them down in a scroll, which he placed before the LORD. After that, he dismissed the assembly, and everyone returned home. Saul also went back to his home in Gibeah. An army of brave warriors went with him, moved by God to do so. But a number of malicious people sneered, "Is he going to save us from our troubles?" They looked down on him with contempt and did not offer him any gifts. But Saul pretended not to notice.

*

King Nahash of Ammon went to war and besieged Jabesh in Gilead. The inhabitants of Jabesh proposed the following to Nahash: "If you make a treaty with us, we will submit to you."

"Fine," replied King Nahash, "on condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you, to humiliate all Israel."

Then the elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven days to send messengers throughout Israel. If no one comes to help us, we will come to you."

When the messengers from Jabesh arrived in Saul's hometown of Gibeah and told what had happened, the whole population began to mourn. Saul, who had just come in from the fields with his oxen, asked why the people were so upset. They told him what the men of Jabesh had said. When he heard this, the Spirit of God came upon him and he burned with fierce anger. He seized a yoke of oxen and cut them into pieces. He gave the pieces of meat to the messengers and sent them throughout Israel, saying, "This is what will happen to the cattle of anyone who does not go with Saul and Samuel into battle!"

Fearing the LORD, the Israelites went to battle as one man. At Bezek, Saul mustered the troops: there were three hundred thousand Israelites and thirty thousand Judeans. The messengers were given the following message: "Tell the people of Jabesh in Gilead that tomorrow, at the heat of the day, they will be rescued."

The inhabitants of Jabesh were very relieved to hear this message. They said to Nahash, "Tomorrow we will come to you, and you can do with us as you see fit."

The next morning, Saul divided the army into three units. During the morning watch, they invaded the camp and fought the Ammonites until noon. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two men remained together.

Afterward, the Israelites said to Samuel, "Who said, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Bring those men to us, and we will put them to death."

But Saul replied, "No one shall be put to death today, for today the LORD has given victory to Israel."

*

Samuel called on the Israelites to go to Gilgal and solemnly confirm the kingship there. All the people went to Gilgal, where Saul was inaugurated as king before the LORD. They slaughtered animals for a peace offering in honor of the LORD, and Saul celebrated exuberantly with all the Israelites.

Then Samuel addressed the people as follows: "I have granted your request and done what you asked: I have appointed a king over you. Here is the king who will lead you from now on. I have grown old and gray, and my sons are here before you. I myself have led you from my earliest youth until today. Here I stand. Now tell me, in the presence of the LORD and his anointed: Have I ever taken anyone's ox? Have I ever taken anyone's donkey? Have I ever exploited or mistreated anyone? Have I ever accepted a bribe from anyone to turn a blind eye? If so, I will make it up to you."

But the people replied, "You have not exploited us, you have not mistreated us, and you have never taken anything from anyone."

Then Samuel said, "The LORD and his anointed are witnesses today that you have nothing to reproach me for."

The people answered, "That is true!"

"Yes," Samuel added, "the LORD who appointed Moses and Aaron and led your ancestors out of Egypt. And now I want to hold you accountable. Stand up, and I will remind you here before the LORD of the good things He has done for you and your ancestors.

When your ancestors cried out to the LORD after Jacob came to Egypt, He sent Moses and Aaron to them. They led them out of Egypt and gave them a place to live here.

But later your ancestors forgot the LORD their God, so He handed them over to Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and to the Philistines and the king of Moab. When they waged war against them, they cried out to the LORD and said, “We have sinned! We have turned away from the LORD to worship the Baals and the Ashtoreths. Deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you again." And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and me, Samuel. Thus He delivered you from the hands of the enemies who surrounded you, and you were able to live here in peace.

But when you saw that King Nahash of Ammon was attacking you, you said to me, “No, we want a king!” Even though the LORD your God is your king. Now here is the king you have chosen, the king you asked for; the LORD has given you a king. If only you will continue to show reverence and devotion to the LORD, continue to obey Him, and not resist His commands! If only you and the king appointed over you will remain faithful to the LORD your God. But if you do not obey the LORD and resist His commands, He will turn against you, just as He turned against your ancestors. Stand still and witness the miracle that the LORD is about to perform before your eyes. Isn't it wheat harvest time? I will call on the LORD, and He will send thunder and rain. Then you will finally realize that the LORD considers it utterly unacceptable that you have asked for a king.

Samuel called on the LORD, and immediately the LORD sent thunder and rain, so that the people were filled with fear of the LORD and Samuel. They asked Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for us, your servants, that we may not die. For we have sinned again by asking for a king."

“Even though you have sinned,” Samuel replied, “you need not be afraid, as long as you remain faithful to the LORD and serve him with all your heart. Do not turn aside to follow worthless things that cannot deliver, for they are worthless. For the sake of his great name, the LORD will not abandon his people, for he has decided to make you his people. And the same applies to me: I too must not sin against the LORD, and I must certainly not cease to pray for you and show you the good and right path. So fear the LORD and serve him sincerely, with all your heart. You have seen for yourselves the great things He has done for you. But if you persist in doing evil, you and your king will be destroyed."

*

Saul was thirty years old when he became king. When he was king of Israel for the second two years, he chose three thousand Israelites. Two thousand were with him at Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the people were sent home. Jonathan captured the Philistine outpost at Gibeah, and the Philistines heard about it. Saul had the ram's horn blown throughout the land and proclaimed, "Hearken, O Hebrews: Israel has now made itself impossible with the Philistines, for Saul has captured one of their watch posts!"

The people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal. The Philistines gathered their troops to go to war against Israel. With thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and as many foot soldiers as there is sand on the seashore, they marched and encamped at Michmash, east of Bet-Awen. The army of the Israelites was driven back, and the soldiers saw that they were cornered . So the men hid in caves, caverns, and rock shelters, in tombs and wells. Some Hebrews also crossed the Jordan to Gad and Gilead.

Meanwhile, Saul was still in Gilgal, and the men there waited in fear and trembling for what was to come. He waited there for Samuel for seven days, as agreed, but when Samuel did not show up, his soldiers began to desert him.

Then Saul commanded, "Bring me the animals for the burnt offering and the peace offerings." He himself offered the burnt offering, and he had barely finished when Samuel arrived. Saul went out to greet him,

but Samuel said, "What have you done?"

Saul replied, "What could I do? I saw that my soldiers were deserting me when you did not come at the appointed time. The Philistines are already at Michmash, and I thought to myself, 'Now the Philistines will attack me here at Gilgal without my having appeased the LORD.' So I took the risk and offered the burnt offering myself."

"How could you be so foolish?" Samuel asked. "If you had obeyed the commandment that the LORD your God gave you, the LORD would have established your kingship over Israel forever. But now your kingship will not endure. The LORD will seek out a man after his own heart and appoint him as ruler over his people, because you have not obeyed what the LORD commanded you."

Then Samuel left Gilgal and went to Gibeah in Benjamin.

Saul mustered the men who remained with him. There were six hundred of them. Saul and his son Jonathan were encamped at Gibeah in Benjamin, while the Philistines were encamped at Michmash. The Philistine raiders went out in three companies: one toward Ophrah in Sual, one toward Beth Horon, and one toward the border of the valley of Hinnom, which overlooks the desert.

At that time, there was no blacksmith to be found in all of Israel. The Philistines wanted to prevent the Hebrews from making swords or spears. All Israelites had to have their plowshares, hoes, axes, and sickles sharpened by the Philistines. This cost two-thirds of a shekel for plowshares and hoes, and one-third of a shekel for axes and ox goads. So when war broke out, none of Saul and Jonathan's soldiers had a sword or spear, except Saul himself and his son Jonathan.

A unit of Philistines had taken up guard duty at the mountain pass near Michmash. One day, Jonathan, Saul's son, said to his armor-bearer, "Let's cross over to the Philistine guard post on the other side." But he did not tell his father what he was planning.

Saul was camped under the pomegranate tree at Migron, just outside Gibeah. He had six hundred soldiers with him. The priest was Ahijah, the son of Ahitub. Ahitub was a brother of Ichabod, who was the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the LORD in Shiloh. No one knew that Jonathan was gone.

On either side of the ravine that Jonathan wanted to cross to reach the Philistine guard post, two rocky peaks protruded: the Boses in the north, opposite Michmas, and the Senne in the south, opposite Gibeah. Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Let’s cross over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will help us. After all, he can bring victory with few men as well as with many.”

"Do whatever your heart tells you," replied the armor-bearer. "I will follow you wherever you go."

"Listen," said Jonathan, "we will cross over and let the soldiers see us. Perhaps they will say to us, 'Halt! Don't move until we come to you!' Then we will stand still and not go to them. But if they say, 'Come up!' then we will climb up, for that will be the sign to us that the LORD is delivering them into our hands."

So they made sure that the Philistine guard noticed them. The Philistines said to each other, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of their holes.” And the soldiers at the guard post called out to Jonathan and his armor bearer, “Come on, we’ll teach you a lesson!”

"Follow me," Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "the LORD has delivered them into Israel's hands!"

Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer following him. Wherever he went, the Philistines fell, and his armor-bearer gave them the coup de grâce. In this first encounter, Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed twenty men. All this took place in an area half the size of what a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. A tremor ran through the camp in the field and through the garrison at the watchpost, and even the shock troops shivered with fear. The earth shook, and all the Philistines trembled with fear of God.

Saul's men who were on watch at Gibeah in Benjamin saw what was happening: a wave of panic arose and the crowd ran back and forth.

Then Saul commanded the men who were with him, "Let everyone line up and find out who is missing."

It turned out that Jonathan and his armor bearer were missing.

"Bring the ark of God here," Saul said to Ahijah.

The ark of God was in the camp of the Israelites at that time. But while Saul was talking to Ahijah, the noise in the camp of the Philistines grew louder, so he withdrew his order. Saul and his men gathered and rushed into battle. The confusion was so great that the Philistines took up arms against each other. Even the Hebrews who had joined the Philistines years earlier and fought on their side changed their minds and now sided with the Israelites under Saul and Jonathan.

When the Israelites hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they too gave chase and kept close behind them. So the LORD gave Israel victory that day.

The battle continued beyond Beth Aven. The Israelites were pushed to their limits that day, for Saul had sworn an oath to his soldiers: "Cursed be anyone who dares to eat anything before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies."

So no one ate anything. At one point they came to a thickly wooded area where there were beehives everywhere. But even then no one dared to reach out and take anything to eat from those hives, which were dripping with honey, so afraid were they of the curse.

However, Jonathan had not heard that his father had imposed an oath on the soldiers. He dipped the tip of his staff into a honeycomb and brought the honey to his mouth. Immediately, his eyes cleared.

One of the soldiers spoke to him and said, "Your father has solemnly sworn us not to eat today, even though we are so hungry."

"My father is bringing disaster on the land," Jonathan said. "Look how clear my eyes are now that I have tasted some of that honey. If the soldiers had eaten some of the spoils they captured from their enemies today, they could have achieved a much greater victory over the Philistines!"

That day, the Israelites drove the Philistines back from Michmash to Aijalon. The soldiers, completely exhausted, threw themselves on the spoils. They seized goats, sheep, cows, and calves, slaughtered them on the ground, and ate them while the blood was still in them.

Saul was told that the soldiers were sinning against the LORD by eating meat that still had blood in it. "What you are doing is strictly forbidden!" Saul said. "Roll a large stone here immediately. Go around the camp and tell everyone to bring their cattle, sheep, or goats to me and slaughter them here on this stone. Then they can eat without sinning against the LORD, because they will not have to eat meat with blood in it." All the soldiers brought the animals they had captured to the stone and slaughtered them there. Thus Saul built his first altar to the LORD.

Later that evening, Saul said, “Let us pursue the Philistines tonight and attack them until morning. We will not leave a single one alive.”

"Whatever you say," the soldiers replied,

but the priest said, "Let us first consult God."

Saul consulted God and asked, "Shall I pursue the Philistines? Will you deliver them into Israel's hands?"

But this time God did not answer.

Then Saul said to the commanders, "Come forward, all of you. Find out what sin has been committed today. As surely as the LORD lives, the Savior of Israel, even if it is my own son Jonathan who is guilty, he shall die!"

But no one answered.

Then he said to the Israelites, “You stand on one side, and I and my son Jonathan on the other.”

"As you wish," the soldiers said.

And Saul asked the LORD, "God of Israel, reveal the truth!"

Jonathan and Saul were identified; the soldiers were acquitted.

Then Saul said, "Cast lots between me and my son Jonathan."

And Jonathan was chosen.

"Tell me, what have you done?" Saul asked.

Jonathan confessed that he had tasted some honey with the tip of his staff and said, "I am ready to die."

"And you shall die, Jonathan," Saul exclaimed, "or may God do to me whatever He wills!"

But the soldiers protested, "Should Jonathan die, who has won this great victory for Israel? No way! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair on his head shall be touched. What he has done today, he has done with God's help!"

So the soldiers pleaded for Jonathan, and he was not put to death. Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines withdrew to their own territory.

*

Saul took over the kingship of Israel and waged war against all his surrounding enemies: against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he went, he was victorious. He became increasingly powerful, defeated the Amalekites, and thus freed Israel from the grip of its plunderers. Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. He also had two daughters; the eldest was named Merab and the youngest Michal. Saul's wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz. His commander-in-chief was his cousin Abner, the son of Ner. Saul's father Kish and Abner's father Ner were both sons of Abiel. Throughout Saul's reign, there was fierce fighting against the Philistines. Therefore, he was always on the lookout for heroic and courageous men and took them into his service.

Once Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people, over Israel. Now listen to what the LORD has to say:

This is what the LORD Almighty says: I have not forgotten what Amalek did to Israel on the way up from Egypt. Now go and attack the Amalekites and destroy everything they have. Devote to the LORD everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."

Saul summoned the army and held a review of the troops at Telam. There were two hundred thousand foot soldiers and another ten thousand men from Judah. When he arrived at the city of the Amalekites, he laid an ambush in the riverbed. Meanwhile, he warned the Kenites: "Get away! Don't stay with the Amalekites, or I will have to destroy you along with them, even though you treated the Israelites well during their journey out of Egypt."

So the Kenites left the Amalekites. Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur, on the border with Egypt. He took their king Agag alive, but killed the rest of the people. Agag was spared by Saul and his men, along with the best sheep, goats, cattle, and the strongest young bulls and rams—in short, everything of value. They did not want to destroy these things, but they killed everything that was of little or no value.

Then the LORD said to Samuel, "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned his back on me and has not done what I commanded him."

Samuel became angry and cried out to the LORD all night. Early the next morning, he wanted to go to meet Saul. He was told that Saul had been to Carmel and had set up a memorial for himself there, and then had traveled on to Gilgal.

When Samuel arrived at Saul's camp, Saul greeted him with the words, "May the LORD bless you. I have done what the LORD commanded me."

But Samuel asked, "Then why do I hear sheep bleating and cattle lowing?"

"They brought them from the Amalekites," Saul replied. "The soldiers wanted to spare the best sheep, goats, and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God. We killed the rest."

“Don’t say another word!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”

"As you wish," said Saul,

and Samuel said, "You may be insignificant in your own eyes, but you are the head of the tribes of Israel, aren't you? The LORD anointed you king of Israel, and the LORD sent you on a mission to destroy the Amalekites, those sinners, and to fight against them until they were completely wiped out. Why did you not listen to what the LORD told you? Why did you rush to seize the spoil and do what is evil in the eyes of the LORD?"

"But I did obey the LORD's command!" Saul protested. "I went out as the LORD commanded me! I captured King Agag and killed the rest of the Amalekites. And the soldiers spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle from the spoils to destroy them at Gilgal and offer them to the LORD your God."

Then Samuel said, "Does the LORD delight in sacrifices more than in obedience? No! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is as bad as witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as idolatry. You have rejected the LORD's command, so He rejects you as king!"

Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned! I have disobeyed the Lord’s command and your words. I was afraid of the soldiers, so I listened to them. Please forgive me and don’t abandon me; I want to bow down before the Lord.”

“No,” Samuel replied. “You have rejected the command of the LORD, so the LORD has rejected you as king of Israel.”

When Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, but it tore off. And Samuel said, "Hereby the LORD tears the kingship of Israel from you and gives it to someone else, who is more worthy than you. And you know that the Glory of Israel never breaks his word or changes his mind. He is not a man that he should change his mind."

Again Saul said, "I have sinned! But please do not abandon me in the presence of the elders of my people and all Israel, and do not leave me alone; I want to kneel before the LORD your God."

Then Samuel went with Saul, and Saul bowed down before the LORD.

Then Samuel said, “Bring King Agag of Amalek here.” Agag came to him, still bound.

"Surely the bitter threat of death has passed?" he asked.

But Samuel replied, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless."

And he cut off Agag's head before the LORD in Gilgal.

Samuel returned to Ramah, and Saul returned to his home in Gibeah. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but he mourned for him. And the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king of Israel.

* 

Psalm 139

For the choir director. Of David, a psalm.

Lord, you know me, you understand me,

You know when I sit and when I rise;

You discern my thoughts from afar.

Whether I walk or rest, You notice it,

and you are familiar with all my ways.

No word is on my tongue,

but You, LORD, know it fully.

You surround me from behind and from before,

You lay Your hand upon me.

It is wonderful how You know me,

it is beyond my understanding.

How could I escape your attention,

how could I escape your gaze?

If I ascended to heaven—I would find You there,

I lay down in the realm of the dead—You are there.

Even if I took flight on the wings of the dawn,

even if I took up residence beyond the farthest sea,

even there your hand would guide me,

Your right hand would hold me fast.

If I said, "Let darkness engulf me,

and turn the light around me into night,'

even then the darkness would not be dark to You—

the night would shine like the day,

the darkness would be as bright as the light.

It was You who formed my kidneys,

who wove me in my mother's womb.

I praise You for the awesome wonder of my existence,

wonderful is what You have made.

I know it, to the depths of my soul.

When I was made in secret,

skillfully woven in the womb of the earth,

my being was no secret to You.

Your eyes saw my formless beginning,

everything was recorded in Your scroll,

not one of the days of my existence was missing.

How rich are Your thoughts, God,

how endless in number,

countless, more than the sand by the sea.

When I awake, I am still with You.

God, destroy the wicked,

— away from my sight, you who shed blood —

they speak maliciously about You,

your enemies abuse your name.

Should I not hate those who hate You, Lord,

despise those who rise up against You?

I hate them with a hatred as fierce as I can muster,

they have also become my enemies.

Search me, God, and know my heart,

test me, know what torments me,

see if I am not going astray,

and lead me in the path that is eternal.