²¹ Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, ^(A)from the least of the tribes of Israel? ^(B)And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”

¹⁷ And Samuel said, ^(A)“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.

⁸ To me, ^(A)though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, ^(B)to preach to the Gentiles the ^(C)unsearchable ^(D)riches of Christ,

¹¹ For ^(A)everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

⁴⁶ So all who fell that day of Benjamin were 25,000 men who drew the sword, all of them men of valor. ⁴⁷ But 600 men turned and ^(A)fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^(B)Rimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon four months. ⁴⁸ And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns that they found they set on fire.

The Lord's Relentless Judgment on Israel

²³ And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, ^(A)“Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?”

¹⁸ And David said to Saul, ^(A)“Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father's clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”

²⁷ But some ^(A)worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.