Bible in 90 Days

3 The boy Samuel continued to serve the Eternal One under the guidance of Eli. In those days, messages from the Eternal were rare, and sacred dreams or visions were given to very few.

² Eli, who was very old, had become almost blind. He was lying in his room; ³ it was late at night but before dawn as the lamp of God still burned. Samuel was resting in the house of the Eternal One, where the covenant chest of the True God was located, and he heard a voice.

So Samuel went back to bed. ⁶ But the Eternal called him again.

⁷ Samuel did not recognize the voice of the Eternal One, for the word of the Eternal had not been revealed to Samuel yet. So Samuel went back again to his bed. ⁸ And the Eternal One called him a third time.

So Samuel went to his bed in his place and listened. ¹⁰ Then the Eternal One came into his presence as before.

¹⁵ After hearing this message, Samuel lay there until morning and then opened the doors of the Eternal One’s house, but he was afraid to tell Eli what God had said to him.

¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing.

¹⁹ As Samuel grew, the Eternal One guided him and none of His words were lost on Samuel. ²⁰ And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, learned that Samuel was a prophet of the Eternal One and that his words could be trusted.

²¹ From time to time, the Eternal continued to appear at Shiloh, where He had spoken to Samuel.

4 And all of Israel was influenced by Samuel’s words.

[In those days, the Philistines warred against Israel,]^[a] and the warriors of Israel went out to fight them. They camped at Ebenezer while the Philistine forces made camp at Aphek. ² The Philistines lined up against Israel; and when they advanced, they defeated Israel, killing about 4,000 of Israel’s warriors on the battlefield. ³ When the troops returned to their camp, the elders of Israel asked,

⁴ So the people sent messengers to Shiloh and brought back the covenant chest of the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, who is enthroned between the winged guardians.

The two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas—accompanied the covenant chest of the True God on its journey to the battlefront. ⁵ When it entered the camp, the Israelites raised a shout so loud it seemed to shake the earth. ⁶ When the Philistines heard the noise, they wondered what the great shout from the Hebrews’ camp might mean; and when they heard that it was in response to the arrival of the covenant chest of the Eternal, ⁷ they shook with fear.

¹⁰ So the Philistines stood their ground and fought and won a great victory. The people of Israel were crushed, and the soldiers fled from the field of battle back to their homes. It was a horrible slaughter, with the Israelites losing 30,000 foot soldiers.

¹¹ But more importantly, they lost the covenant chest of the True God. The Philistines captured the chest, and Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.

¹² A Benjaminite ran from the battlefield and arrived in Shiloh that same day. He was in mourning—his clothes torn and dust heaped on his head. ¹³ When he arrived, Eli was sitting in his place of honor next to the city gate waiting anxiously for the covenant chest of God. When the man came into the city and told his news, the entire city cried out in grief. ¹⁴ But Eli, who could not see the messenger’s clothing, wondered at the meaning of the cries.

The man hurried to Eli and told him what had happened. ¹⁵ Eli was by this time 98 years old and blind.

¹⁸ When he heard this news about the covenant chest of the True God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate, broke his neck, and died, for he was very old and heavyset.

He was a leader over Israel for 40 years.

¹⁹ His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was pregnant and close to the end of her term. When she heard the news—that the covenant chest of the True God had been captured by the Philistines and that her husband and father-in-law were both dead—she was bowed over by her labor pains. She gave birth, ²⁰ and as she was about to die, the midwives told her,

But she did not answer or seem to hear them. ²¹ She said only that the son should be called Ichabod, meaning, “Where has the glory gone?” For so it must have seemed to her with the loss of the covenant chest of God and the deaths of her husband and father-in-law.

5 The Philistines brought the captured covenant chest of the True God from Ebenezer to one of their capital cities called Ashdod. ² There the Philistines took the chest of the True God into the house of their god, Dagon, and placed it in a place of honor beside the idol of Dagon. ³ When the people of the city anxiously awoke early the next morning, there was Dagon, lying on his face on the ground, as if bowing before the covenant chest of the Eternal. So they grabbed the idol and put it back in its proper place. ⁴ But when they awoke the next morning, only the trunk of the idol was untouched. Dagon had fallen to the ground on his face before the covenant chest of the Eternal One again, and this time his head and hands had been cut off and were lying across the threshold. ⁵ That is why the priests and worshipers of Dagon in the house of Dagon in Ashdod refused to step on the threshold even till this day.

⁶ The hand of the Eternal One came down hard with punishment on the people of Ashdod while the covenant chest rested there. He ravaged the people of Ashdod and the surrounding territory and struck them with swollen, painful growths like tumors. ⁷ When the people of Ashdod saw how they were cursed, they said,

^8-9 So they gathered together all the rulers of the Philistines to ask what should be done with the covenant chest of Israel’s God.

They did so. But after they had moved the chest of the True God of Israel to Gath, another of the capital cities, the hand of the Eternal One began to punish the people of Gath and sent them into a panic. He also struck them with swollen, painful, tumor-like growths—the young and old alike. ¹⁰ So then they sent the covenant chest of the True God of Israel on to a third capital city, Ekron; but when the people of Ekron saw that the covenant chest was coming, they protested.

¹¹ So they gathered together all the rulers of the Philistines.

For there was great panic throughout the city. The True God’s hand rested heavily on them; ¹² and those He did not kill, He struck with swollen, painful tumors. Their suffering was so intense their cries could be heard in the heavens.

6 The covenant chest of the Eternal One had been in the land of the Philistines for seven months. ² Then the rulers of the Philistines sent for their priests and fortune-tellers.

¹⁰ And that is what the leaders did. They separated two milk cows from their calves. They yoked the cows to the wagon and took the calves home. ¹¹ They set the covenant chest of the Eternal upon the wagon, and next to it, they placed the box with the gold tumors and gold mice. ¹² The cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, mooing after their lost calves as they went. They went straight ahead without any hesitation, and the rulers of the Philistines followed as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.

¹³ The people of Beth-shemesh were in the valley harvesting their wheat at that time. When they looked up and saw the covenant chest, they ran to greet it with joy. ¹⁴ The wagon came to a halt at a large stone in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh. The people split up the cart for firewood and sacrificed the cattle as a burnt offering to the Eternal One on the large stone. ¹⁵ The Levites took the chest of the Eternal and the box next to it down from the wagon. They took the gold images from the box and set them upon the stone altar. Then the people of Beth-shemesh offered sacrifices and made other burnt offerings to the Eternal One.

¹⁶ When the five rulers of the Philistines saw how their offering had been received that day, they returned to Ekron.

¹⁷ The five gold images of swollen tumors presented to the Eternal One by the Philistines as a guilt offering represented Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron—one for each. ¹⁸ Likewise the golden mice represented all the cities of the Philistines governed by their rulers, both the walled cities and the villages surrounding them. The large stone in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh where they set the chest of the Eternal remains there as a witness to these events.

¹⁹ The Eternal struck the people of Beth-shemesh because some looked into the covenant chest. God struck down 75^[b] men, and the people were saddened because of the slaughter the Eternal One had brought among their people.

²¹ So the people of Beth-shemesh sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim to tell them that the Philistines had returned the chest of the Eternal One to Beth-shemesh and that they should come down and take it with them.

7 The people of Kiriath-jearim did as they were asked. They collected the chest of the Eternal One and brought it up the hill to the house of Abinadab. They performed sacred rituals to set apart his son Eleazar to be in charge of caring for the chest of the Eternal.

² Time passed, 20 years or so, from the time that the covenant chest was taken to Kiriath-jearim, and all the people of Israel began to grieve over their separation from the Eternal One.

⁴ So the people of Israel got rid of their gods and goddesses,^[c] and they began to serve only the Eternal One.

⁶ That day they gathered at Mizpah, drew water, poured it out ritually in front of the Eternal One, and fasted.

Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah, delivering the people from danger and establishing justice in the land.

⁷ When the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines gathered an armed force and went to attack them. When the people of Israel heard that the Philistines were coming, they were filled with fear. They turned to God’s prophet.

⁹ Samuel took a young lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Eternal One. He called out to the Eternal on behalf of Israel, and the Eternal responded. Here is what happened: ¹⁰ As Samuel was performing the sacrifice, the voice of the Eternal rolled like thunder and confused the advancing Philistine army so that Israel easily struck them down. ¹¹ From Mizpah, the Israelites chased them beyond Beth-car, striking them along the way.

¹² That’s why Samuel set up a stone between Mizpah and Shen; and he called that stone Ebenezer, which means “rock of help,” for he said,

¹³ So the Philistines were humbled and did not invade the lands of Israel again. The Eternal One held off the Philistines for as long as Samuel judged Israel. ¹⁴ The Israelite cities the Philistines had seized between Ekron and Gath were returned, and Israel took its territory back from Philistine rule. There was also peace with the Amorites.

¹⁵ Now Samuel was a prophet and judge over Israel for the rest of his life. ¹⁶ He traveled a 40-mile circuit just north of Jerusalem every year between Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, solving Israel’s problems in each of these places. ¹⁷ But he would always return to his home in Ramah, the base from which he judged Israel and where he built an altar to the Eternal.

8 When Samuel was old, he named his sons judges of Israel to rule over the people and be their deliverers. ² His first son, Joel, and his second son, Abijah, were judges in Beersheba, ³ but they were not like Samuel. They profited from dishonesty, took bribes, and fostered injustice. ⁴ So the elders of Israel gathered and came to Ramah to tell Samuel.

⁶ This request—“appoint a king to rule us”—bothered Samuel, so he prayed to the Eternal One ⁷ and received an answer.

¹⁰ So Samuel told the people who were asking for a king what the Eternal One had said.

²¹ After Samuel had heard their demands, he told the Eternal One what they had said.

So Samuel told the people of Israel to go back to their cities until he would call them together to anoint them a king.

9 A powerful man named Kish, who descended from Abiel, Zeror, Becorath, and Aphiah (the son of a Benjaminite), lived among the people of Benjamin. ² Kish had a handsome young son named Saul. Now Saul was not only the most handsome man in Israel, but he was also the most imposing, standing taller than all others.

³ One day Saul’s father Kish had lost his donkeys, having wandered away, so he told his son Saul to take one of the servants and look for them. ⁴ They traveled through the hill country of Ephraim, through the land of Shalishah, and through the land of Shaalim, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, and still they did not see the donkeys.

⁵ At last, when they came to Zuph, Saul told the servant who accompanied him,

⁹ It used to be in Israel that when people wanted to ask God a question, they would say, “Let’s go talk to the seer.” Now they are most commonly referred to as prophets, but they were called seers.

As they traveled up to the city to visit the man of God, they saw some girls on their way to draw water at the well.

¹⁴ They went immediately, and as they entered the city, Samuel was walking in their direction on his way up to the high place.

¹⁵ Now the Eternal One had told Samuel on the previous day,

¹⁷ When Samuel saw Saul walking toward him, the Eternal spoke to him.

¹⁸ There inside the gate, Saul walked up to Samuel.

²² Samuel took Saul and his servant up to the hall where around 30 people waited, and he made them sit in the places of honor.

²⁴ The cook brought the thigh along with other select parts and set them in front of Saul.

So Saul feasted with Samuel the rest of the day. ²⁵ When they returned to the city from eating at the high place, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof.

²⁶ The next morning, at the break of dawn, Samuel shouted up to Saul on the roof.

Saul rose, and he and Samuel walked out into the street. ²⁷ When they reached the edge of the city, Samuel told him,

10 Samuel took a vial of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head, anointing him, and then kissed him.

⁹ As Saul turned to leave Samuel, the True God transformed his heart. As a result, all that Samuel had predicted came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When Saul came up to the hill of God, he met a band of prophets; and as Samuel had said, the Spirit of God overtook him, and he was caught up in their prophetic ecstasy.

¹¹ Then the people who knew him saw that he began to prophesy with the prophets.

This is one way the saying, “Is Saul one of the prophets?” originated.

¹³ When Saul finished prophesying, he went to a high place to a local shrine.

¹⁴ When Saul returned home, his uncle asked him and his servant where they had been.

But Saul did not tell him anything about the kingdom or anything else Samuel had said.

¹⁷ Sometime later Samuel called the people to come and gather in the presence of the Eternal One at Mizpah. ¹⁸ He stood before the Israelites with an important message.

²⁰ So Samuel brought all of the tribes of Israel in front of him, and he chose the tribe of Benjamin by drawing lots. ²¹ Then he sorted through the clans of the tribe of Benjamin by the same method, and the clan of the Matrites was chosen. [Within that clan, he brought each man forward one by one,]^[e] and Saul, son of Kish, was chosen. But when they looked for him, he was nowhere to be found.

²² So they asked the Eternal One if the man had yet arrived.

²³ Then they hurried to find him and bring him in front of the people; and when he emerged, he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

²⁵ Samuel informed the people about the rights and responsibilities of the king, and he wrote all these details in a book that he placed in the presence of the Eternal One. Then he sent all the people to their homes. ²⁶ Saul, too, went home to Gibeah, accompanied by a group of warriors who had been moved by the True God to accompany him. ²⁷ Still, some worthless skeptics and unbelievers asked, “How can this no-name from Benjamin protect us?” and they refused to honor him with an appropriate gift. But Saul kept silent.

[At that time, Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, tyrannized the men of the tribes of Dan and Reuben, putting out one of each man’s eyes and denying the possibility of their deliverance. Not one of the Israelites across the Jordan still had both his eyes, but 7,000 men had escaped from this conflict and reached Jabesh-gilead.]^[f]

11 So after a month had passed, Nahash the Ammonite besieged Jabesh-gilead. ² The men of Jabesh tried to make a treaty with Nahash, telling him they would serve him.

⁴ When the messengers reached Gibeah, where Saul was ruling, they told the people about Nahash and his cruelty, and it made them weep out loud. ⁵ Now Saul was just coming in from plowing in the fields when he heard the commotion.

So they told the king about the predicament and request from the people of Jabesh. ⁶ When he heard their story, the Spirit of the True God moved upon Saul, and he was furious. ⁷ He took a team of oxen, just like the one he had just been plowing the fields with, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces throughout the land of Israel with his first royal decree: “May those who refuse to answer this call from Saul and Samuel have their oxen torn apart like this!” Because they were afraid of making the Eternal One angry, people from every tribe came forward to fight as one.

⁸ Saul gathered them at Bezek, and the Israelites numbered 300,000 fighting men, with Judah providing 30,000. ⁹ The messengers who had come from Jabesh were sent back to tell the people in Jabesh-gilead to look for deliverance before the heat of the next day. They were thrilled by the news.

¹⁰ So the citizens of Jabesh sent a message to Nahash.

¹¹ The next morning Saul divided the people into three regiments; they entered the Ammonite camp that night under the cloak of darkness during the morning watch and slaughtered the soldiers until the next afternoon. The survivors were so few and so scattered you could not find two Ammonites together.

¹⁵ So representatives from all the tribes went to Gilgal. There Saul was installed as king of Israel before the Eternal One; then they joyfully offered peace offerings to the Eternal, and Saul and all the Israelites celebrated.

¹⁸ Samuel prayed to the Eternal. He sent thunder and rain to pelt the fields that day, and the people were afraid of Him and of Samuel.

13 Saul was about 30^[i] years old when he became king, and after he ruled for at least two years, ² Saul chose 3,000 men of Israel: 2,000 stayed with him in the hill country of Bethel at a place called Michmash, and the other 1,000 joined Saul’s son Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent all the rest home to their tents.

³ Jonathan crushed the Philistine regiment at Geba, and news of this slaughter reached the Philistines. Saul ordered that a trumpet be blown throughout Israel to announce Jonathan’s victory to the people.

⁴ When all Israel had heard the news of how Saul had defeated the Philistines, and when they learned that the Philistines were filled with hatred toward them, Saul called the people out to join him at Gilgal.

⁵ Now the Philistines had gathered their forces: 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and so many foot soldiers they were like grains of sand on the beach. They made camp at Michmash, east of Beth-aven. ⁶ When the people of Israel saw they were in danger, for their troops were seriously outnumbered, they hid in caves and in holes, among the rocks, tombs, and cisterns. ⁷ Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan River into Gad and Gilead. But Saul remained at Gilgal; the people continued to follow him, but they were terrified.

⁸ Saul waited for Samuel for seven days, the amount of time he had been told by Samuel to wait. But the prophet did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away. A few more days and Saul would have no army left, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.

¹⁰ Although Saul was not a priest, he offered the burnt offering himself without waiting for Samuel. Immediately after Saul finished the offering, when the aroma of the sacrifice lingered over the land, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him and to pay his respects. But Samuel knew Saul had overstepped his bounds.

¹⁵ Samuel left Gilgal then and went on his way to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. When Saul counted his forces, they numbered about 600 men. ¹⁶ Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people who had remained with him camped at Geba in Benjamin, but the Philistines were camped at Michmash.

¹⁷ Philistine raiders left their camp in three divisions: one group went toward Ophrah, in the land of Shual. ¹⁸ Another group went toward Beth-horon, and another group went toward the borderland that looks down on the valley of Zeboim in the wilderness.

¹⁹ Now at that time there were no blacksmiths in all the land of Israel because the Philistines said, “Then the Hebrews will be capable of making swords or spears.” ²⁰ That meant that the Israelites had to go to Philistine blacksmiths to have their farm implements and their axes sharpened. ²¹ They charged one-fourth of an ounce to sharpen picks and plow blades, and one-eighth of an ounce for axes and goads. ²² That meant that on the day of the battle, none of the forces of Israel owned swords or spears, except for Saul and his son Jonathan.

²³ The garrison of Philistines left the camp and came to the pass of Michmash.

14 One day Saul’s son, Jonathan, came up with a plan. He turned to his armor-bearer.

But he didn’t tell his father what he had decided.

² Saul remained outside Gibeah under the pomegranate tree at Migron with about 600 of his soldiers. ³ Ahijah, the son of Ahitub and nephew of Ichabod (who was a son of Phinehas, who was born to Eli, who had been the priest of the Eternal One in Shiloh), was also there with Saul, bearing the priestly vest. None of the people knew that Jonathan had gone.

^4-5 The mountain pass that Jonathan took to reach the Philistines was bordered on either end by rocky crags. The one on the north in front of Michmash was called Bozez, and the other on the south near Geba was called Seneh.

¹¹ So they let the Philistines see them, and the Philistine soldiers ridiculed them.

¹² They signaled to Jonathan and his armor-bearer.

¹³ Jonathan scrambled up the steep incline on his hands and feet to the Philistine soldiers, his armor-bearer right behind. When he appeared before the Philistines, they fell before him, and he and his armor-bearer killed them right and left. ¹⁴ In that first assault, Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed about 20 men within an area of about a half-acre. ¹⁵ When the news of this slaughter spread, it caused trembling in the Philistine camp, among the soldiers in the field, even among the whole nation. The garrison of troops was confused and afraid, and the raiding parties who had terrorized Israel trembled. Soon the earth itself quaked, and an awesome trembling abounded.

¹⁶ From a distance Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in Benjamin saw the multitude of Philistines melting away, rushing back and forth.

After the roll call, they realized Jonathan and his armor-bearer were gone.

The chest of God was traveling with the Israelites in those days. ¹⁹ While Saul was talking with Ahijah the priest, the raucous commotion in the Philistine ranks grew. He turned to Ahijah the priest who was consulting the oracle of the Urim and Thummim to determine God’s will.

²⁰ Then Saul rallied all his troops and led them into battle, and there was so great a confusion that no one knew exactly whom they were fighting. ²¹ Those Hebrews who had been with the Philistines in their camps changed sides and began fighting alongside the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan, ²² and those Israelites who had gone into hiding in the hill country of Ephraim came flooding out of the hills to fight when they heard the Philistines were running away.

²³ So the Eternal One gave Israel the victory that day, and the battle passed beyond Beth-aven. ²⁴ But Saul did a foolish thing: he placed all of his troops under an oath that caused added pressure.

So none of the army ate anything, ²⁵ [although they passed through a forest and by a honeycomb]^[j] with honey on the ground. ²⁶ The people passed and the honey was dripping out, but none of them reached out for a taste because they were afraid of Saul’s curse. ²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard Saul’s words, so when he passed the honeycomb, he reached out with the staff he was carrying, took some honey, put it in his mouth, and immediately felt refreshed.

³¹ So after this victory, after the Israelites had crushed the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, they were faint. ³² When evening came and they were permitted to eat, they seized the spoils of battle, took sheep and oxen and calves, slaughtered them on the ground, and ate them with their blood, which is strictly forbidden by the law of Moses. ³³ This was reported to Saul.

So all the soldiers brought their own animals that night and slaughtered them at the stone altar. ³⁵ This was the first altar Saul built to the Eternal One.

His followers encouraged him to do as he wished, everyone that is, except for the priest.

But God did not answer him that day. ³⁸ So he gathered the people together.

No one among the people answered him. ⁴⁰ So Saul separated himself and Jonathan from the others, ordering the people to stand on one side and he and Jonathan on the other.

⁴¹ Then Saul asked the Eternal One, the God of Israel, to reveal the truth. [The priest consulted the stones of the divine oracle to determine whether the sin was committed by the common people of Israel or by someone in his royal family.]^[k] The oracle indicated that the family of Saul, not the people of Israel, was at fault.

The results indicated Jonathan.

So the people ransomed Jonathan, and he was not killed. ⁴⁶ Saul, now humiliated, stopped pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines who were left returned to their own land.

⁴⁷ When Saul entered into his kingship, he made war with all of Israel’s enemies—Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Throughout his life he fought and condemned them. ⁴⁸ He fought bravely and defeated the Amalekites and rescued Israel from the onslaught of all those who plundered her.

⁴⁹ Saul’s three sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua, and his two daughters were Merab (the firstborn) and Michal (the younger). ⁵⁰ Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz, and the commander of his forces was his cousin Abner, son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. ⁵¹ Kish, the father of Saul, and Ner, the father of Abner, were sons of Abiel.

⁵² The Israelites fought hard against the Philistines throughout Saul’s reign; and whenever Saul found a strong or brave fighter, he added him to his forces.

⁴ So Saul gathered his forces, and at Telaim he counted them: 200,000 foot soldiers with 10,000 men from Judah. ⁵ He approached the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley there. ⁶ From there he sent a message to the Kenite people.

So the Kenites left their homes among the Amalekites. ⁷ Then Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. ⁸ He cut down the entire population with the sword, as God had told him to do, except he captured King Agag of the Amalekites and kept him alive. ⁹ Saul and the army spared Agag, and they saved the best of the livestock: the sheep, the oxen, the lambs, and the best of all the stock. They kept what was valuable instead of destroying it, and they only destroyed those things they considered worthless.

¹⁰ Then Samuel heard the voice of the Eternal.

Samuel was distressed when he heard this, and he cried out to the Eternal One all night long.

¹² Then he rose early in the morning to go and find Saul, only to hear that Saul had gone on to Carmel, where he had erected a monument to himself, and returned to Gilgal. ¹³ At last Samuel caught up with Saul. When Saul saw him, he greeted him as if nothing was wrong.

²⁷ As Samuel turned to go, Saul knelt to the ground, caught the prophet’s robe, and held on so tight that it tore.

³¹ So Samuel returned with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Eternal One. Samuel then completed what Saul had begun.

Agag was led to him, being cautiously optimistic that the worst was surely past.

So Samuel chopped Agag into pieces before the Eternal One at Gilgal. ³⁴ Then Samuel went back to Ramah, and Saul returned to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵ Samuel never saw Saul again until the day he died. The prophet grieved over the hapless king. And the Eternal grieved, too, regretting that He had ever anointed Saul king over Israel.