¹⁷ So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, ^(A)“There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people.”

³ For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? ^(A)Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. ⁴ For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

^21 (A)And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them ^(B)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

²⁵ So I ^(A)contended with them and ^[a]cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them ^(B)swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves.

¹⁹ So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it ^(A)began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. ^(B)Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day.

⁶ So it was, when they came, that he looked at ^(A)Eliab and ^(B)said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!”

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, ^(C)“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have ^[a]refused him. ^(D)For^[b] the Lord does not see as man sees; for man ^(E)looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the ^(F)heart.”

⁸ So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the ^(G)sheep.”

And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not ^[c]sit down till he comes here.” ¹² So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ^(H)ruddy, ^(I)with ^[d]bright eyes, and good-looking. ^(J)And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”

^13 (A)For I have told him that I will ^(B)judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because ^(C)his sons made themselves vile, and he ^(D)did not ^[a]restrain them.