1 Samuel 12-13

New American Standard Bible

Samuel Addresses Israel

12 Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, ^(A)I have listened to your voice for all that you said to me, and I ^(B)have appointed a king over you. ² Now, ^(C)here is the king walking before you, but as for me, ^(D)I am old and gray, and ^(E)my sons are here with you. And ^(F)I have walked before you since my youth to this day. ³ Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and ^(G)His anointed. ^(H)Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed, or ^(I)from whose hand have I taken a bribe to close my eyes with it? I will return it to you.” ⁴ And they said, “You have not exploited us or oppressed us, or taken anything from anyone’s hand.” ⁵ So he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day that ^(J)you have found nothing ^(K)in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

⁶ Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who ^[a](L)appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. ⁷ Now then, take your stand, ^(M)so that I may enter into judgment with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord that He did for you and your fathers. ^8 (N)When Jacob went into Egypt and ^(O)your fathers cried out to the Lord, then ^(P)the Lord sent Moses and Aaron ^[b](Q)who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. ⁹ But ^(R)they forgot the Lord their God, so ^(S)He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and ^(T)into the hand of the Philistines, and ^(U)into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. ^10 (V)They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have abandoned the Lord and have served ^(W)the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but ^(X)now save us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ ¹¹ Then the Lord sent ^(Y)Jerubbaal, ^[c](Z)Bedan, ^(AA)Jephthah, and ^(AB)Samuel, and saved you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security.

The King Confirmed

¹² But when you saw ^(AC)that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon was coming against you, you said to me, ‘^(AD)No, but a king shall reign over us!’ ^(AE)Yet the Lord your God was your king. ¹³ And now, ^(AF)behold, the king whom you have chosen, ^(AG)whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has ^[d]put a king over you. ^14 (AH)If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the ^[e]command of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. ¹⁵ But ^(AI)if you do not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the ^[f]command of the Lord, then ^(AJ)the hand of the Lord will be against you, ^(AK)even as it was against your fathers. ¹⁶ Even now, ^(AL)take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord is going to do before your eyes. ^17 (AM)Is it not the wheat harvest today? ^(AN)I will call to the Lord, that He will send ^[g]thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that ^(AO)your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord, by asking for yourselves a king.” ¹⁸ So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent ^[h]thunder and rain that day; and ^(AP)all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹ Then all the people said to Samuel, “^(AQ)Pray to the Lord your God for your servants, so that we do not die; for we have added to all our sins ^(AR)this evil, by asking for ourselves a king.” ²⁰ Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet ^(AS)do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹ Indeed, you must not turn aside, for then you would go after ^(AT)useless things which cannot benefit or save, because they are useless. ²² For ^(AU)the Lord will not abandon His people ^(AV)on account of His great name, because the Lord ^(AW)has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. ²³ Furthermore, as for me, ^(AX)far be it from me that I would sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but ^(AY)I will instruct you in the good and right way. ^24 (AZ)Only ^[i]fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider ^(BA)what great things He has done for you. ^25 (BB)But if you still do evil, ^(BC)both you and your king ^(BD)will be swept away.”

War with the Philistines

13 Saul was ^[j]thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for ^[k]forty-two years over Israel.

² Now Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel, of whom two thousand were with Saul in ^(BE)Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, while a thousand were with Jonathan at ^(BF)Gibeah of Benjamin. But he sent the rest of the people away, each to his tent. ³ And Jonathan attacked ^(BG)the garrison of the Philistines that was in ^(BH)Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul ^(BI)blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴ And all Israel heard ^[l]the news that Saul had attacked the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel ^(BJ)had become repulsive to the Philistines. Then the people were summoned ^[m]to Saul at Gilgal.

⁵ Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and ^(BK)people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance; and they came up and camped in Michmash, east of ^(BL)Beth-aven. ⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard-pressed), then ^(BM)the people kept themselves hidden in caves, in crevices, in cliffs, in crypts, and in pits. ⁷ And some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of ^(BN)Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling.

⁸ Now ^(BO)he waited for seven days, until the appointed time that Samuel had set, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. ⁹ So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And ^(BP)he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ But as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and ^(BQ)Saul went out to meet him and to ^[n]greet him. ¹¹ But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Since I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come at the appointed ^[o]time, and that ^(BR)the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, ¹² I ^[p]thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not ^[q]asked the favor of the Lord.’ So I worked up the courage and offered the burnt offering.” ¹³ But Samuel said to Saul, “^(BS)You have acted foolishly! ^(BT)You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for the Lord would now have established your kingdom ^[r]over Israel ^(BU)forever. ¹⁴ But ^(BV)now your kingdom shall not endure. ^(BW)The Lord has sought for Himself a man ^[s]after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

¹⁵ Then Samuel set out and went up from Gilgal to ^(BX)Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul ^[t]counted the people who were ^[u]present with him, ^(BY)about six hundred men. ¹⁶ Now Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people who were ^[v]present with them were staying in ^(BZ)Geba of Benjamin while the Philistines camped at Michmash. ¹⁷ Then ^(CA)[w]raiders came from the camp of the Philistines in three ^[x]companies: one ^[y]company turned ^[z]toward ^(CB)Ophrah, to the land of Shual, ¹⁸ and another ^[aa]company turned ^[ab]toward ^(CC)Beth-horon, and another ^[ac]company turned ^[ad]toward the border that overlooks the Valley of ^(CD)Zeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹ Now ^(CE)no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make ^[ae](CF)swords or spears.” ²⁰ So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe. ²¹ The charge was ^[af]two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the ^[ag]cattle goads. ²² So it came about on the day of battle that ^(CG)neither sword nor spear was found in the hands of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, but they were found with Saul and his son Jonathan. ²³ And ^(CH)the garrison of the Philistines went out to ^(CI)the gorge of Michmash.