1 Samuel 8-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Israel Demands a King
8 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel.(A) 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 Yet his sons did not follow in his ways but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.(B)
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah(C) 5 and said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.”(D) 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord,(E) 7 and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.(F) 8 Just as they have done to me[a] from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9 Now then, listen to their voice; only, you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”(G)
10 So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots,(H) 12 and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.(I) 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers.(J) 15 He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16 He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle[b] and donkeys and put them to his work. 17 He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And on that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.”(K)
Israel’s Request for a King Granted
19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! We are determined to have a king over us, 20 so that we also may be like other nations and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”(L) 21 When Samuel heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the Israelites, “Each of you return home.”(M)
Saul Chosen to Be King
9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth.(N) 2 He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the Israelites more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.(O)
3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, had strayed. So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the young men with you; go and look for the donkeys.” 4 He passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of Benjamin, but they did not find them.(P)
5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the young man who was with him, “Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us.”(Q) 6 But he said to him, “There is a man of God in this town; he is a man held in honor. Whatever he says always comes true. Let us go there now; perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set out.”(R) 7 Then Saul replied to the young man, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?”(S) 8 The young man answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, anyone who went to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for the one who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)(T) 10 Saul said to the young man, “Good; come, let us go.” So they went to the town where the man of God was.
11 As they went up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?”(U) 12 They answered, “Yes, there he is just ahead of you. Hurry; he has come just now to the town because the people have a sacrifice today at the shrine.(V) 13 As soon as you enter the town, you will meet him before he goes up to the shrine to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those eat who are invited. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” 14 So they went up to the town. As they were entering the town, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the shrine.
15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have seen the suffering of[c] my people, because their outcry has come to me.”(W) 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.”(X) 18 Then Saul approached Samuel inside the gate and said, “Tell me, please, where is the house of the seer?” 19 Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer; go up before me to the shrine, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. 20 As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, give no further thought to them, for they have been found. And on whom is all Israel’s desire fixed, if not on you and on all your ancestral house?”(Y) 21 Saul answered, “I am only a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel, and my family is the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”(Z)
22 Then Samuel took Saul and the young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, of whom there were about thirty. 23 And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, the one I asked you to put aside.” 24 The cook took up the upper thigh[d] and set it before Saul. Samuel said, “See, what was reserved is set before you. Eat, for it was kept for you for this appointed time, so that you might eat with the guests.”[e]
So Saul ate with Samuel that day.(AA) 25 When they came down from the shrine into the town, a bed was spread for Saul[f] on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.[g](AB) 26 Then at the break of dawn[h] Samuel called to Saul upon the roof, “Get up, so that I may send you on your way.” Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.
Samuel Anoints Saul
27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the young man to go on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.” 10 1
Saul Prophesies
9 As he turned away to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day.(AJ) 10 When they were going from there to Gibeah,[k] a band of prophets met him, and the spirit of God possessed him, and he fell into a prophetic frenzy along with them.(AK) 11 When all who knew him before saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”(AL) 12 A man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 When his prophetic frenzy had ended, he went home.[l]
14 Saul’s uncle said to him and to the young man, “Where did you go?” And he replied, “To seek the donkeys, and when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 Saul said to his uncle, “He told us that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingship, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.(AM)
Saul Proclaimed King
17 Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah(AN) 18 and said to the Israelites, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’(AO) 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said, ‘No, but set a king over us.’ Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”(AP)
20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.(AQ) 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man,[m] and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Did the man come here?”[n] And the Lord said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”(AR) 23 Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them.(AS) 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”(AT)
25 Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people back to their homes.(AU) 26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went warriors whose hearts God had touched.(AV) 27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.
Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.[o](AW)
Saul Defeats the Ammonites
11 About a month later,[p] Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”(AX) 2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, namely, that I gouge out everyone’s right eye and thus put disgrace upon all Israel.”(AY) 3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days’ respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.” 4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the hearing of the people, and all the people wept aloud.(AZ)
5 Now Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and Saul said, “What is the matter with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the message from the inhabitants of Jabesh. 6 And the spirit of God came upon Saul in power when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled.(BA) 7 He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one.(BB) 8 When he mustered them at Bezek, those from Israel were three hundred thousand and those from Judah seventy[q] thousand.(BC) 9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Thus shall you say to the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead: Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have deliverance.” When the messengers came and told the inhabitants of Jabesh, they rejoiced. 10 So the inhabitants of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.”(BD) 11 The next day Saul put the people in three companies. At the morning watch they came into the camp and cut down the Ammonites until the heat of the day, and those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.(BE)
12 The people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Give them to us so that we may put them to death.”(BF) 13 But Saul said, “No one shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has brought deliverance to Israel.”(BG)
14 Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.”(BH) 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.(BI)
Samuel’s Farewell Address
12 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to you in all that you have said to me and have set a king over you.(BJ) 2 See, it is the king who leads you now; I am old and gray, but my sons are with you. I have led you from my youth until this day.(BK) 3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me,[r] and I will restore it to you.”(BL) 4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from the hand of anyone.” 5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”(BM)
6 Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who[s] appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of the land of Egypt.(BN) 7 Now, therefore, take your stand so that I may enter into judgment with you before the Lord, and I will declare to you[t] all the righteous acts of the Lord that he performed for you and for your ancestors.(BO) 8 When Jacob went into Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them,[u] then your ancestors cried to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.(BP) 9 But they forgot the Lord their God, and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of King Jabin of[v] Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.(BQ) 10 Then they cried to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Astartes, but now rescue us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’(BR) 11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak,[w] and Jephthah, and Samson[x] and rescued you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.(BS) 12 But when you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ though the Lord your God was your king.(BT) 13 See, here is the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; see, the Lord has set a king over you.(BU) 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and heed his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well;(BV) 15 but if you will not heed the voice of the Lord but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.[y](BW) 16 Now, therefore, take your stand and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.(BX) 17 Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain, and you shall know and see that the wickedness that you have done in the sight of the Lord is great in demanding a king for yourselves.”(BY) 18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.(BZ)
19 All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins the evil of demanding a king for ourselves.”(CA) 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart, 21 and do not turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or save, for they are useless.(CB) 22 For the Lord will not cast away his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.(CC) 23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.(CD) 24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you.(CE) 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”(CF)
Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice
13 Saul was . . .[z] years old when he began to reign, and he reigned . . . and two[aa] years over Israel.
2 Saul chose three thousand out of Israel; two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; the rest of the people he sent home to their tents.(CG) 3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”(CH) 4 When all Israel heard that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines, the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.
5 The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel: thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.(CI) 6 When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns.(CJ) 7 Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul.[ab](CK) 9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me and the offerings of well-being.” And he offered the burnt offering.(CL) 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to meet him and salute him.(CM) 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the people were slipping away from me and that you did not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines were mustering at Michmash,(CN) 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the Lord,’ so I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” 13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever,(CO) 14 but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”(CP) 15 And Samuel left and went on his way from Gilgal.[ac] The rest of the people followed Saul to join the army; they went up from Gilgal toward Gibeah of Benjamin.[ad]
Preparations for Battle
Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.(CQ) 16 Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people who were present with them stayed in Geba of Benjamin, but the Philistines encamped at Michmash. 17 And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies; one company turned toward Ophrah to the land of Shual,(CR) 18 another company turned toward Beth-horon, and another company turned toward the mountain[ae] that looks down upon the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.(CS)
19 Now there was no smith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “The Hebrews must not make swords or spears for themselves,”(CT) 20 so all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, or sickles.[af] 21 The charge was two-thirds of a shekel[ag] for the plowshares and for the mattocks and one-third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads.[ah] 22 So on the day of the battle neither sword nor spear was to be found in the possession of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.(CU)
Jonathan Surprises and Routs the Philistines
23 Now a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass of Michmash.
Footnotes
- 8.8 Gk: Heb lacks to me
- 8.16 Gk: Heb young men
- 9.16 Gk: Heb lacks the suffering of
- 9.24 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 9.24 Cn: Heb time, saying, I have invited the people
- 9.25 Gk: Heb and he spoke with Saul
- 9.25 Gk: Heb lacks and he lay down to sleep
- 9.26 Gk: Heb and they arose early and at break of dawn
- 10.1 Gk: Heb lacks over his people Israel. You shall . . . anointed you ruler
- 10.5 Or the hill of God
- 10.10 Or the hill
- 10.13 Cn: Heb went to the shrine
- 10.21 Gk: Heb lacks Finally . . . man by man
- 10.22 Gk: Heb Is there yet a man to come here?
- 10.27 Q ms: MT lacks Now Nahash . . . entered Jabesh-gilead.
- 11.1 Q ms Gk: MT lacks About a month later
- 11.8 Q ms Gk OL: MT thirty
- 12.3 Gk: Heb lacks Testify against me
- 12.6 Gk: Heb lacks is witness, who
- 12.7 Gk: Heb lacks and I will declare to you
- 12.8 Gk: Heb lacks and the Egyptians oppressed them
- 12.9 Gk: Heb lacks King Jabin of
- 12.11 Gk Syr: Heb Bedan
- 12.11 Gk: Heb Samuel
- 12.15 Gk: Heb and your ancestors
- 13.1 The number is lacking in the Heb text (13.1 is lacking in Gk mss).
- 13.1 Two is not the entire number; something has dropped out.
- 13.8 Heb him
- 13.15 Gk: Heb went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin
- 13.15 Gk: Heb lacks The rest . . . of Benjamin
- 13.18 Cn: Heb border road
- 13.20 Gk: Heb plowshare
- 13.21 Heb was a pim
- 13.21 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.