The Lord Rejects Saul

15 And Samuel said to Saul, ^(A)“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel ^(B)in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. ³ Now go and strike Amalek and ^(C)devote to destruction^[a] all that they have. Do not spare them, ^(D)but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

⁴ So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵ And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. ⁶ Then Saul said to ^(E)the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. ^(F)For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. ^7 (G)And Saul defeated the Amalekites from ^(H)Havilah as far as ^(I)Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸ And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive ^(J)and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. ^9 (K)But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves^[b] and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

¹⁰ The word of the Lord came to Samuel: ^11 (L)“I regret^[c] that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and ^(M)has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. ¹² And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to ^(N)Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” ¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, ^(O)“Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” ¹⁴ And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” ¹⁵ Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, ^(P)for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” ¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

¹⁷ And Samuel said, ^(Q)“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? ^(R)Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, ^(S)“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. ^21 (T)But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²² And Samuel said,

²⁴ Saul said to Samuel, ^(Z)“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. ²⁵ Now therefore, please pardon my sin and ^(AA)return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” ²⁶ And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. ^(AB)For you have rejected the word of the Lord, ^(AC)and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” ^27 (AD)As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ And Samuel said to him, ^(AE)“The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. ²⁹ And also the Glory of Israel ^(AF)will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” ³⁰ Then he said, “I have sinned; yet ^(AG)honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, ^(AH)and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” ³¹ So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully.^[d] Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” ³³ And Samuel said, ^(AI)“As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord ^(AJ)in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel went ^(AK)to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in ^(AL)Gibeah of Saul. ^35 (AM)And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, ^(AN)but Samuel grieved over Saul. ^(AO)And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

David Anointed King

16 The Lord said to Samuel, ^(AP)“How long will you grieve over Saul, since ^(AQ)I have rejected him from being king over Israel? ^(AR)Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, ^(AS)for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” ² And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ^(AT)‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. ^(AU)And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” ⁴ Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city ^(AV)came to meet him trembling and said, ^(AW)“Do you come peaceably?” ⁵ And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. ^(AX)Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they came, he looked on ^(AY)Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, ^(AZ)“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, ^(BA)but the Lord looks on the heart.” ⁸ Then Jesse called ^(BB)Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹ Then Jesse made ^(BC)Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, ^(BD)“There remains yet the youngest,^[e] but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, ^(BE)“Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” ¹² And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ^(BF)ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, ^(BG)“Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” ¹³ Then Samuel took ^(BH)the horn of oil ^(BI)and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. ^(BJ)And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

David in Saul's Service

^14 (BK)Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, ^(BL)and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. ¹⁵ And Saul's servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Let our lord now command your servants ^(BM)who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will ^(BN)play it, and you will be well.” ¹⁷ So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” ¹⁸ One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, ^(BO)a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, ^(BP)and the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹ Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, ^(BQ)who is with the sheep.” ^20 (BR)And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. ²¹ And David came to Saul ^(BS)and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. ²² And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” ²³ And ^(BT)whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre ^(BU)and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

8 ¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ^2 (A)Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and ^(B)he sat down and taught them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Now ^(C)in the Law, Moses commanded us ^(D)to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ This they said ^(E)to test him, ^(F)that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ^(G)“Let him who is without sin among you ^(H)be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, ^(I)“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on ^(J)sin no more.”]]

I Am the Light of the World

^12 (K)Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^(L)“I am the light of the world. Whoever ^(M)follows me will not ^(N)walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, ^(O)“You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, ^(P)my testimony is true, for I know ^(Q)where I came from and ^(R)where I am going, but ^(S)you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ^15 (T)You judge according to the flesh; ^(U)I judge no one. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, ^(V)my judgment is true, for ^(W)it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^[a] who sent me. ^17 (X)In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I am the one who bears witness about myself, and ^(Y)the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” ¹⁹ They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, ^(Z)“You know neither me nor my Father. ^(AA)If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ These words he spoke in ^(AB)the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but ^(AC)no one arrested him, because ^(AD)his hour had not yet come.

Sit at My Right Hand

A Psalm of David.