Saul among Prophets

10 Then ^(A)Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, ^(B)kissed him and said, “Has not ^(C)the Lord anointed you a ruler over ^(D)His inheritance? ² When you go from me today, then you will find two men close to ^(E)Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘^(F)The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. Now behold, your father has ^[a]ceased to be concerned about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ ³ Then you will go on further from there, and you will come as far as the ^[b](G)oak of Tabor, and there three men going up ^(H)to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine; ⁴ and they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand. ⁵ Afterward you will come to ^[c](I)the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet ^(J)a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and ^(K)they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then ^(L)the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and ^(M)you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man. ⁷ It shall be when these signs come to you, ^(N)do for yourself what ^[d]the occasion requires, for ^(O)God is with you. ⁸ And ^(P)you shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and ^(Q)sacrifice peace offerings. ^(R)You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do.”

⁹ Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God ^(S)changed ^[e]his heart; and all those signs came about on that day. ^10 (T)When they came to ^[f]the hill there, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them. ¹¹ It came about, when all who knew him previously saw that he prophesied now with the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? ^(U)Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² A man there said, “Now, who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “^(V)Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ Now ^(W)Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “^(X)To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they could not be found, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” ¹⁶ So Saul said to his uncle, “^(Y)He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned.

Saul Publicly Chosen King

¹⁷ Thereafter Samuel called the ^(Z)people together to the Lord at Mizpah; ¹⁸ and he said to the sons of Israel, “^(AA)Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the ^[g]power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ ¹⁹ But you ^(AB)have today rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have ^[h]said, ‘No, but set a king over us!’ Now therefore, ^(AC)present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”

²⁰ Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. ²¹ Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the Matrite family was taken. And Saul the son of Kish was taken; but when they looked for him, he could not be found. ²² Therefore ^(AD)they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” So the Lord said, “Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.” ²³ So they ran and took him from there, and when he stood among the people, ^(AE)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. ²⁴ Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(AF)whom the Lord has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people shouted and said, “^[i](AG)Long live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people ^(AH)the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book and ^(AI)placed it before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house. ²⁶ Saul also went ^(AJ)to his house at Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him. ²⁷ But certain ^[j](AK)worthless men said, “How can this one deliver us?” And they despised him and ^(AL)did not bring him any present. But he kept silent.

Vav.

Paul before Felix

24 After ^(A)five days the high priest ^(B)Ananias came down with some elders, ^[a]with an ^[b]attorney named Tertullus, and they ^[c]brought charges to ^(C)the governor against Paul. ² After Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying to the governor,

“Since we have through you attained much peace, and since by your providence reforms are being carried out for this nation, ³ we acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, ^(D)most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness. ⁴ But, that I may not weary you any further, I beg you ^[d]to grant us, by your kindness, a brief hearing. ⁵ For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout ^[e]the world, and a ringleader of the ^(E)sect of the Nazarenes. ⁶ And he even tried to ^(F)desecrate the temple; and ^[f]then we arrested him. [^[g]We wanted to judge him according to our own Law. ⁷ But Lysias the commander came along, and with much violence took him out of our hands, ⁸ ordering his accusers to come before you.] By examining him yourself concerning all these matters you will be able to ascertain the things of which we accuse him.” ^9 (G)The Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were so.

¹⁰ When ^(H)the governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul responded:

“Knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense, ¹¹ since you can take note of the fact that no more than ^(I)twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ^12 (J)Neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city itself did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or ^(K)causing ^[h]a riot. ^13 (L)Nor can they prove to you the charges of which they now accuse me. ¹⁴ But this I admit to you, that according to ^(M)the Way which they call a ^(N)sect I do serve ^[i](O)the God of our fathers, ^(P)believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets; ¹⁵ having a hope in God, which ^(Q)these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. ¹⁶ In view of this, ^(R)I also ^[j]do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men. ¹⁷ Now ^(S)after several years I ^(T)came to bring ^[k]alms to my nation and to present offerings; ¹⁸ in which they found me occupied in the temple, having been ^(U)purified, without any ^(V)crowd or uproar. But there were some ^(W)Jews from ^[l]Asia— ¹⁹ who ought to have been present before you and to ^(X)make accusation, if they should have anything against me. ²⁰ Or else let these men themselves tell what misdeed they found when I stood before ^(Y)the ^[m]Council, ²¹ other than for this one statement which ^(Z)I shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”

²² But Felix, ^[n]having a more exact knowledge about ^(AA)the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the ^[o]commander comes down, I will decide your case.” ²³ Then he gave orders to the centurion for him to be ^(AB)kept in custody and yet ^(AC)have some freedom, and not to prevent any of ^(AD)his friends from ministering to him.

²⁴ But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his ^[p]wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about ^(AE)faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ But as he was discussing ^(AF)righteousness, ^(AG)self-control and ^(AH)the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you.” ²⁶ At the same time too, he was hoping that ^(AI)money would be given him by Paul; therefore he also used to send for him quite often and converse with him. ²⁷ But after two years had passed, Felix ^[q]was succeeded by Porcius ^(AJ)Festus, and ^(AK)wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul ^(AL)imprisoned.