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.

Descendants of Reuben

5 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (^(A)for he was the firstborn, but because ^(B)he defiled his father's couch, ^(C)his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son; ^2 (D)though Judah became strong among his brothers and a ^(E)chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph), ³ the ^(F)sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ⁴ The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son, ⁵ Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son, ⁶ Beerah his son, whom ^(G)Tiglath-pileser^[a] king of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a chief of the Reubenites. ⁷ And his kinsmen by their clans, ^(H)when the genealogy of their generations was recorded: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah, ⁸ and Bela the son of Azaz, son of ^(I)Shema, son of Joel, who lived in ^(J)Aroer, as far as ^(K)Nebo and ^(L)Baal-meon. ⁹ He also lived to the east as far as the entrance of the desert this side of the Euphrates, because their livestock had multiplied ^(M)in the land of Gilead. ¹⁰ And in the days of Saul they waged war against the ^(N)Hagrites, who fell into their hand. And they lived in their tents throughout all the region east of Gilead.

Descendants of Gad

¹¹ The sons of Gad lived over against them in the land of Bashan as far as ^(O)Salecah: ¹² Joel the chief, Shapham the second, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan. ¹³ And their kinsmen according to their fathers' houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia and Eber, seven. ¹⁴ These were the sons of Abihail the son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz. ¹⁵ Ahi the son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was chief in their fathers' houses, ¹⁶ and they lived in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the pasturelands of ^(P)Sharon to their limits. ¹⁷ All of these were recorded in genealogies in the days of ^(Q)Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of ^(R)Jeroboam king of Israel.

¹⁸ The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, ^(S)expert in war, 44,760, able to go to war. ¹⁹ They waged war against the ^(T)Hagrites, ^(U)Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. ²⁰ And when they prevailed^[b] over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, ^(V)for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea ^(W)because they trusted in him. ²¹ They carried off their livestock: 50,000 of their camels, 250,000 sheep, 2,000 donkeys, and 100,000 men alive. ²² For many fell, because the war was of God. And they lived ^(X)in their place until ^(Y)the exile.

The Half-Tribe of Manasseh

²³ The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land. They were very numerous from Bashan to Baal-hermon, ^(Z)Senir, and Mount Hermon. ²⁴ These were the heads of their fathers' houses: Epher,^[c] Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty warriors, famous men, heads of their fathers' houses. ²⁵ But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and ^(AA)whored ^(AB)after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. ²⁶ So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of ^(AC)Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of ^(AD)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them ^(AE)to Halah, ^(AF)Habor, Hara, and ^(AG)the river Gozan, to this day.

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

1 ^(A)The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, ^(B)the son of David, ^(C)the son of Abraham.

^2 (D)Abraham was the father of Isaac, and ^(E)Isaac the father of Jacob, and ^(F)Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, ³ and ^(G)Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,^{[a] 4} and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, ⁵ and Salmon the father of Boaz by ^(H)Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, ⁶ and ^(I)Jesse the father of David the king.

And ^(J)David was the father of Solomon by ^(K)the wife of Uriah, ⁷ and ^(L)Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,^{[b] 8} and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, ^(M)and Joram the father of Uzziah, ⁹ and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, ¹⁰ and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,^[c] and Amos the father of Josiah, ¹¹ and ^(N)Josiah the father of ^(O)Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

¹² And after the deportation to Babylon: ^(P)Jechoniah was the father of ^(Q)Shealtiel,^[d] and ^(R)Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, ¹³ and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, ¹⁴ and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, ¹⁵ and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, ¹⁶ and Jacob the father of ^(S)Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

¹⁷ So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to ^(T)the Christ fourteen generations.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

¹⁸ Now the birth of ^(U)Jesus Christ^[e] took place in this way. ^(V)When his mother Mary had been betrothed^[f] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child ^(W)from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling ^(X)to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, ^(Y)an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and ^(Z)you shall call his name Jesus, ^(AA)for he will save his people from their sins.” ^22 (AB)All this took place ^(AC)to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

(which means, God ^(AF)with us). ²⁴ When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, ²⁵ but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And ^(AG)he called his name Jesus.