Saul Rejected as King

15 Samuel told Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel.^(A) Now, listen to the words of the Lord. ² This is what the Lord of Armies says: ‘I witnessed^[a] what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt.^{(B) 3} Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have.^(C) Do not spare them. Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”^(D)

⁴ Then Saul summoned the troops and counted them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah. ⁵ Saul came to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi. ⁶ He warned the Kenites,^(E) “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came out of Egypt,^(F) go on and leave! Get away from the Amalekites, or I’ll sweep you away with them.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.

⁷ Then Saul struck down the Amalekites^(G) from Havilah^(H) all the way to Shur,^(I) which is next to Egypt. ⁸ He captured King Agag^(J) of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.^{(K) 9} Saul and the troops spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and choice animals,^[b] as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things.

¹⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, ¹¹ “I regret that I made Saul king,^(L) for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.”^(M) So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night.^(N)

¹² Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, “Saul went to Carmel^(O) where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.”^{(P) 13} When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “May the Lord bless you.^(Q) I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

¹⁴ Samuel replied, “Then what is this sound of sheep, goats, and cattle I hear?”

¹⁵ Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep, goats, and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the Lord your God,^(R) but the rest we destroyed.”^(S)

¹⁶ “Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” he replied.

¹⁷ Samuel continued, “Although you once considered yourself unimportant,^(T) haven’t you become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel ¹⁸ and then sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.’ ¹⁹ So why didn’t you obey the Lord? Why did you rush on the plunder^(U) and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?”

²⁰ “But I did obey the Lord!” Saul answered.^[c] “I went on the mission the Lord gave me: I brought back King Agag of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ The troops took sheep, goats, and cattle from the plunder—the best of what was set apart for destruction—to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”^(V)

²² Then Samuel said:

²⁴ Saul answered Samuel, “I have sinned.^(AB) I have transgressed the Lord’s command^(AC) and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them. ²⁵ Now therefore, please forgive my sin^(AD) and return with me so I can worship the Lord.”

²⁶ Samuel replied to Saul, “I will not return with you. Because you rejected the word of the Lord,^(AE) the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” ²⁷ When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the corner of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today^(AF) and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.^{(AG) 29} Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel^(AH) does not lie or change his mind, for he is not man who changes his mind.”^(AI)

³⁰ Saul said, “I have sinned. Please honor me^(AJ) now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me so I can bow in worship to the Lord your God.”^{(AK) 31} Then Samuel went back, following Saul, and Saul bowed down to the Lord.

³² Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of Amalek.”

Agag came to him trembling,^[d] for he thought, “Certainly the bitterness of death has come.”^[e][f]

³³ Samuel declared:

Then he hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.

³⁴ Samuel went to Ramah,^(AM) and Saul went up to his home in Gibeah^(AN) of Saul. ³⁵ Even to the day of his death, Samuel never saw Saul again.^(AO) Samuel mourned for Saul,^(AP) and the Lord regretted he had made Saul king over Israel.

A Christian’s Duties to the State

13 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities,^(A) since there is no authority except from God,^(B) and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. ² So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers are not a terror^(C) to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. ⁴ For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger^(D) that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. ⁵ Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.^{(E) 6} And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks.^{[a] 7} Pay your obligations^(F) to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes,^(G) tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect,^(H) and honor to those you owe honor.

Love, Our Primary Duty

⁸ Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.^{(I) 9} The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal;^[b] do not covet;^[c](J) and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.^{[d](K) 10} Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.

Put On Christ

¹¹ Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour^(L) for you^[e] to wake up from sleep,^(M) because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.^{(N) 12} The night is nearly over, and the day is near;^(O) so let us discard the deeds of darkness^(P) and put on the armor of light.^{(Q) 13} Let us walk with decency,^(R) as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness;^(S) not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,^(T) and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.^(U)

The Fall of Jerusalem

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. ² Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done.^{(A) 3} Because of the Lord’s anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he finally banished them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.^(B)

⁴ In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around. ⁵ The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

⁶ By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food. ⁷ Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.^{(C) 8} The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army left him and scattered. ⁹ The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

¹⁰ At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered the Judean commanders. ¹¹ Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody^[a] until his dying day.^(D)

¹² On the tenth day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of^[b] the king of Babylon. ¹³ He burned the Lord’s temple, the king’s palace, all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses. ¹⁴ The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.^{(E) 15} Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.^(F)

¹⁷ Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the Lord’s temple and the water carts and the bronze basin^[c] that were in the Lord’s temple,^(G) and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. ¹⁹ The captain of the guards took away the bowls, firepans, sprinkling basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls^(H)—whatever was gold or silver.

²⁰ As for the two pillars, the one basin, with the twelve bronze oxen under it, and the water carts^[d] that King Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ²¹ One pillar was 27 feet^[e] tall, had a circumference of 18 feet,^[f] was hollow—four fingers thick— ²² and had a bronze capital on top of it.^(I) One capital, encircled by bronze grating and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet^[g] high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. ²³ Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the grating numbered one hundred.

²⁴ The captain of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. ²⁵ From the city he took a court official^[h] who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides^[i] found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people^[j] who were found within the city. ²⁶ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷ The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.^(J)

²⁸ These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported:^(K) in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; ²⁹ in his eighteenth year,^[k] 832 people from Jerusalem; ³⁰ in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported 745 Jews. Altogether, 4,600 people were deported.

Jehoiachin Pardoned

³¹ On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. ³² He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³ So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. ³⁴ As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.^(L)

Psalm 31

A Plea for Protection

For the choir director. A psalm of David.