⁸ And ^(A)you shall go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will be coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and ^(B)sacrifice peace offerings. ^(C)You shall wait seven days until I come to you and inform you of what you should do.”

⁵ Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and ^(A)people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance; and they came up and camped in Michmash, east of ^(B)Beth-aven. ⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard-pressed), then ^(C)the people kept themselves hidden in caves, in crevices, in cliffs, in crypts, and in pits. ⁷ And some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of ^(D)Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling.

⁸ Now ^(E)he waited for seven days, until the appointed time that Samuel had set, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. ⁹ So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And ^(F)he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ But as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and ^(G)Saul went out to meet him and to ^[a]greet him. ¹¹ But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Since I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come at the appointed ^[b]time, and that ^(H)the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, ¹² I ^[c]thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not ^[d]asked the favor of the Lord.’ So I worked up the courage and offered the burnt offering.” ¹³ But Samuel said to Saul, “^(I)You have acted foolishly! ^(J)You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for the Lord would now have established your kingdom ^[e]over Israel ^(K)forever. ¹⁴ But ^(L)now your kingdom shall not endure. ^(M)The Lord has sought for Himself a man ^[f]after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”