Saul Defeats the Ammonites

11 ^(A)Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged ^(B)Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, ^(C)“Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.” ² But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, ^(D)that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus ^(E)bring disgrace on all Israel.” ³ The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days' respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.” ⁴ When the messengers came to ^(F)Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people, ^(G)and all the people wept aloud.

⁵ Now, behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. And Saul said, “What is wrong with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the news of the men of Jabesh. ^6 (H)And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. ⁷ He took a yoke of oxen ^(I)and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, ^(J)“Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out ^(K)as one man. ⁸ When he mustered them at ^(L)Bezek, ^(M)the people of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. ⁹ And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have ^(N)salvation.’” When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, they were glad. ¹⁰ Therefore the men of Jabesh said, ^(O)“Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.” ^11 (P)And the next day Saul put the people ^(Q)in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

The Kingdom Is Renewed

¹² Then the people said to Samuel, ^(R)“Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ ^(S)Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” ¹³ But Saul said, ^(T)“Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today ^(U)the Lord has worked ^(V)salvation in Israel.” ¹⁴ Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” ¹⁵ So all the people went to ^(W)Gilgal, and there they made Saul king ^(X)before the Lord in Gilgal. There ^(Y)they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

Samuel's Farewell Address

12 And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed ^(Z)your voice in all that you have said to me ^(AA)and have made a king over you. ² And now, behold, the king ^(AB)walks before you, ^(AC)and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. ³ Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before ^(AD)his anointed. ^(AE)Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me^[a] and I will restore it to you.” ⁴ They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand.” ⁵ And he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and ^(AF)his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything ^(AG)in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

⁶ And Samuel said to the people, ^(AH)“The Lord is witness,^[b] who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. ^8 (AI)When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them,^{[c] (AJ)}then your fathers cried out to the Lord and ^(AK)the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, ^(AL)who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. ⁹ But ^(AM)they forgot the Lord their God. ^(AN)And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor,^{[d] (AO)}and into the hand of the Philistines, ^(AP)and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. ^10 (AQ)And they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord ^(AR)and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now ^(AS)deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’ ¹¹ And the Lord sent ^(AT)Jerubbaal ^(AU)and Barak^{[e] (AV)}and Jephthah and ^(AW)Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. ¹² And when you saw that ^(AX)Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, ^(AY)you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ ^(AZ)when the Lord your God was your king. ¹³ And now ^(BA)behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, ^(BB)the Lord has set a king over you. ¹⁴ If you will ^(BC)fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. ¹⁵ But ^(BD)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then ^(BE)the hand of the Lord will be against you and ^(BF)your king.^{[f] 16} Now therefore ^(BG)stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. ^17 (BH)Is it not wheat harvest today? ^(BI)I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that ^(BJ)your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” ¹⁸ So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, ^(BK)and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹ And all the people said to Samuel, ^(BL)“Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” ²⁰ And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet ^(BM)do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹ And ^(BN)do not turn aside after ^(BO)empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. ^22 (BP)For the Lord will not forsake his people, ^(BQ)for his great name's sake, because ^(BR)it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. ²³ Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing ^(BS)to pray for you, ^(BT)and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. ^24 (BU)Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider ^(BV)what great things he has done for you. ²⁵ But if you still do wickedly, ^(BW)you shall be swept away, ^(BX)both you and your king.”

From Adam to Abraham

1 ^{[a] (A)}Adam, Seth, Enosh; ^2 (B)Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared; ³ Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech; ⁴ Noah, ^(C)Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

^5 (D)The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ⁶ The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath,^[b] and Togarmah. ⁷ The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.

^8 (E)The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. ⁹ The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ¹⁰ Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty man.^[c]

^11 (F)Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹² Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.

¹³ Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, ¹⁴ and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁵ the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁶ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.

^17 (G)The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram:^[d] Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech. ¹⁸ Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. ¹⁹ To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg^[e] (for in his days the earth was divided), and his brother's name was Joktan. ²⁰ Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²¹ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²² Obal,^[f] Abimael, Sheba, ²³ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

^24 (H)Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah; ²⁵ Eber, Peleg, Reu; ²⁶ Serug, Nahor, Terah; ²⁷ Abram, that is, Abraham.

From Abraham to Jacob

²⁸ The sons of Abraham: ^(I)Isaac and ^(J)Ishmael. ^29 (K)These are their genealogies: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ³⁰ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, ³¹ Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael. ^32 (L)The sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. ³³ The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the descendants of Keturah.

³⁴ Abraham fathered ^(M)Isaac. The sons of Isaac: ^(N)Esau and ^(O)Israel. ^35 (P)The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. ³⁶ The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz, and of Timna,^[g] Amalek. ³⁷ The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

^38 (Q)The sons of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. ³⁹ The sons of Lotan: Hori and Hemam;^[h] and Lotan's sister was Timna. ⁴⁰ The sons of Shobal: Alvan,^[i] Manahath, Ebal, Shepho,^[j] and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. ⁴¹ The son^[k] of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hemdan,^[l] Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. ⁴² The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.^[m] The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

^43 (R)These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the people of Israel: Bela the son of Beor, the name of his city being Dinhabah. ⁴⁴ Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of ^(S)Bozrah reigned in his place. ⁴⁵ Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the ^(T)Temanites reigned in his place. ⁴⁶ Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. ⁴⁷ Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. ⁴⁸ Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates^[n] reigned in his place. ⁴⁹ Shaul died, and Baal-hanan, the son of Achbor, reigned in his place. ⁵⁰ Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pai; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. ⁵¹ And Hadad died.

The chiefs of Edom were: chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁵² Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁵³ Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁵⁴ Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom.

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ² For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since ^(A)I betrothed you to one husband, ^(B)to present you ^(C)as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ But I am afraid that ^(D)as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts ^(E)will be led astray from a ^(F)sincere and ^(G)pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes and ^(H)proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept ^(I)a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. ⁵ Indeed, I consider that ^(J)I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ^6 (K)Even if I am unskilled in speaking, ^(L)I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way ^(M)we have made this plain to you in all things.

⁷ Or ^(N)did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because ^(O)I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹ And when I was with you and was ^(P)in need, ^(Q)I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia ^(R)supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain ^(S)from burdening you in any way. ^10 (T)As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine ^(U)will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ And why? ^(V)Because I do not love you? ^(W)God knows I do!

¹² And what I am doing I will continue to do, ^(X)in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³ For such men are ^(Y)false apostles, ^(Z)deceitful workmen, ^(AA)disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as ^(AB)an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as ^(AC)servants of righteousness. ^(AD)Their end will correspond to their deeds.

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶ I repeat, ^(AE)let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷ What I am saying ^(AF)with this boastful confidence, ^(AG)I say not as the Lord would^[a] but as a fool. ¹⁸ Since ^(AH)many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹ For you gladly bear with fools, ^(AI)being wise yourselves! ²⁰ For you bear it if someone ^(AJ)makes slaves of you, or ^(AK)devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ^(AL)strikes you in the face. ²¹ To my shame, I must say, ^(AM)we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²² Are they Hebrews? ^(AN)So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they ^(AO)servants of Christ? ^(AP)I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, ^(AQ)far more imprisonments, ^(AR)with countless beatings, and ^(AS)often near death. ²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the ^(AT)forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was ^(AU)beaten with rods. ^(AV)Once I was stoned. Three times I ^(AW)was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, ^(AX)danger from my own people, ^(AY)danger from Gentiles, ^(AZ)danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ^27 (BA)in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, ^(BB)in hunger and thirst, often without food,^[b] in cold and exposure. ²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for ^(BC)all the churches. ^29 (BD)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

^30 (BE)If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ^31 (BF)The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^(BG)he who is blessed forever, ^(BH)knows that I am not lying. ³² At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas ^(BI)was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ^33 (BJ)but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.