¹⁷ When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall rule over my people.”^(A)

³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval,^{(A) 4} for it is God’s agent for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority^[a] does not bear the sword in vain! It is the agent of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.

²¹ Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years.^(A)

²⁵ And I contended with them and cursed them and beat some of the men and pulled out their hair, and I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.^(A)

¹⁹ When it began to be dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I set some of my servants over the gates, to prevent any burden from being brought in on the Sabbath day.^(A)

⁶ When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely his anointed is now before the Lord.”^{(A) 7} But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”^{(B) 8} Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”^{(C) 9} Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”^{(D) 10} Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” ¹¹ Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.”^{(E) 12} He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.”^(F)

¹³ For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,^[a] and he did not restrain them.^(A)