Bible in 90 Days

³⁰ Because of what you have done, the Lord, Israel's God, says this to you: “I promised your family and your ancestors that they would serve me as priests for ever.” But now the Lord says, “That will never happen! I will give honour to people who respect me. But I will curse people who insult me. ³¹ So you and your family will soon come to an end. No one in your family will live to become old men. ³² You will see how trouble comes to my home here. Good things will happen to the Israelite people, but there will never be an old man in your family. ³³ One of your descendants may continue to serve me as a priest. But he will be very sad and his eyes will become weak. Anyone who is born in your family will die when they are young.

³⁴ This will show you that what I have said is true: Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will both die on the same day.

³⁵ I will choose another priest to serve me. He will be faithful. He will do everything that I want him to do. I will give him a strong family and he will serve my chosen king for ever. ³⁶ Everyone in your family who continues to live will have to bend down low to this priest. They will ask him for a few coins and a piece of bread. ‘Please let me help the priests so that I can have something to eat,’ they will say.” ’

God chooses Samuel

3 The boy Samuel continued to serve the Lord. Eli the priest taught him what to do. In those days, the Lord did not often give his messages to people. He did not often show things to them in visions.

² Eli's eyes had become weak. He could not see very well. One night, he was sleeping in his usual place. ³ The lamp of God was still burning.^[a] Samuel was lying down to sleep near the Covenant Box in the Lord's house. ⁴ Then the Lord called out to Samuel. Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’ ⁵ Samuel ran to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’

But Eli said, ‘I did not call your name. Go back and lie down again.’ So Samuel went and he lay down again.

⁶ Again the Lord called out, ‘Samuel’. So Samuel went to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’

Eli answered, ‘My son, I did not call your name. Go back and lie down again.’

⁷ Samuel did not know the Lord yet. The Lord had not spoken to him before. ⁸ Then the Lord called Samuel's name for the third time. Samuel got up again. He went to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’

Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy's name. ⁹ So Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go back and lie down again. If he calls your name again, you must say, “Speak, Lord. I am your servant and I am listening.” ’ So Samuel went back and he lay down in his place.

¹⁰ The Lord came and he stood near to Samuel. He called Samuel's name again, as he had done before. He said, ‘Samuel, Samuel’. Samuel said, ‘Speak. I am your servant and I am listening.’^[b]

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to me. I am ready to do something great among the Israelite people. When people hear about it, they will shake with fear. ¹² When that day arrives, I will punish Eli and his family in all the ways that I have said. I will start at the beginning and I will continue to the end. ¹³ I have warned Eli that I would punish his family for all time. He knew that his sons were doing very bad things. They were insulting me, God, and Eli did not stop them. ¹⁴ So I made a strong promise and I said, “I will never forgive the sins of Eli's family. No sacrifices or offerings will ever take away those sins.” ’

¹⁵ Samuel lay down again until the morning. Then he opened the doors of the Lord's house. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision that he had received from God. ¹⁶ But Eli called out to Samuel, ‘Samuel, my son.’ Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’

¹⁷ Eli asked Samuel, ‘What message did the Lord speak to you? You must not hide it from me. God will certainly punish you if you do not tell me everything that he said to you.’

¹⁸ So Samuel told Eli everything. He did not hide any of God's message. Then Eli said, ‘The Lord. must do what he thinks is right.’

¹⁹ The Lord was with Samuel while he continued to grow up. So every message that Samuel spoke became true. ²⁰ In all Israel, from the north to the south, everyone realized that Samuel was truly the Lord's prophet.^{[c] 21} The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh. He showed himself to Samuel and he spoke to him there.

4 Samuel spoke the Lord's messages to all the Israelites.

The Philistines take God's Covenant Box

The Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelite army put up their tents near the place called Ebenezer. The Philistine army put up their tents at Aphek. ² The Philistines went to attack the Israelites. As the battle continued, the Philistines won the fight and they killed about 4,000 Israelites.

³ The Israelite soldiers returned to their tents. The leaders of Israel said to each other, ‘Why did the Lord let the Philistines win against us today? We should bring the Lord's Covenant Box here from Shiloh. We will take it with us into the battle. Then it will save us from our enemies.’^[d]

⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh and they brought back the Lord's Covenant Box. That is where the Lord Almighty sits between the cherubs. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, also came with God's Covenant Box. ⁵ The men brought the Lord's Covenant Box into the place where the soldiers' tents were. When the Israelites saw it, they shouted so loudly that the ground shook.

⁶ The Philistines heard the loud noise. They asked each other, ‘What is happening there among the Hebrew people's army?’^[e] Then they realized that the Lord's Covenant Box had arrived there. ⁷ They were afraid and they said, ‘Their gods have come to help them fight! We are in bad trouble. Nothing like this has happened to us before. ⁸ This is terrible! Nobody can save us from those powerful gods. Those gods punished the Egyptians with many bad diseases in the desert. ⁹ Philistine soldiers, you must be brave! You must fight as strong men! If not, we will become slaves of these Hebrew people, as they were once our slaves. So be ready to fight bravely!’

¹⁰ So the Philistines did fight strongly and they won again. They killed 30,000 Israelite soldiers in the battle. The other Israelite soldiers all ran home. ¹¹ The Philistines took God's Covenant Box for themselves. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, also died.

Eli dies

¹² That same day, a soldier from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battle. He ran to Shiloh. He had torn his clothes and he had put dirt on his head.^[f]

¹³ Eli was sitting on his chair by the side of the road in Shiloh. He was waiting for news of the battle. He wanted to know if God's Covenant Box was safe. When the soldier arrived in the city, he told the people what had happened in the battle. All the people started to cry loudly.

¹⁴ Eli heard the people's loud voices. He asked, ‘What is causing all the noise?’ The soldier quickly went to tell Eli the news. ¹⁵ Eli was now 98 years old and he could not see at all. ¹⁶ The soldier said to Eli, ‘I am the man who ran here today from the battle.’ Eli asked him, ‘What happened, my son?’

¹⁷ The soldier replied, ‘The Israelites ran away while the Philistines chased them. The Philistines killed many of our soldiers. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead. And the Philistines have taken away God's Covenant Box.’

¹⁸ Eli was sitting near the city's gate. He was old and fat. When the soldier spoke about God's Covenant Box, Eli fell back off his chair. His neck broke and he died. He had been a leader of Israel's people for 40 years.

¹⁹ At that time, Phinehas' wife was pregnant. She was ready to give birth. She heard the news that the Philistines had taken away God's Covenant Box. She heard that her husband Phinehas and his father Eli were dead. When she heard this news, she started to give birth to her baby. But she had a lot of pain. ²⁰ She was dying. The women who were helping her said, ‘Do not be afraid. You have given birth to a son!’ But this did not make her happy. She did not answer them.

²¹ She called the boy's name Ichabod, because she said, ‘God's glory has gone away from Israel.’ She said this because the Philistines had taken away God's Covenant Box, and because her husband and his father had died. ²² She said, ‘God's glory has gone away from Israel because the Covenant Box has gone.’

God's Covenant Box causes trouble for the Philistines

5 When the Philistines took God's Covenant Box, they took it from Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod.^{[g] 2} They carried it into the temple of Dagon, their god. They put the box next to the idol of Dagon. ³ The next morning, the people in Ashdod got up early. They saw that Dagon had fallen down in front of the Lord's Covenant Box. The idol's face was touching the ground. So they took Dagon and they put him back in his place.

⁴ The next morning, they got up early again. They saw that Dagon had fallen down in front of the Lord's Covenant Box again! His head and both his hands had broken off. They were lying on the step of the temple's door. Only his body remained together. ⁵ Because of that, even today Dagon's priests and other people never walk on the step of Dagon's temple in Ashdod.

⁶ The Lord punished the people who lived in Ashdod. He caused them to have a lot of pain, as well as the people in the places near Ashdod. He caused tumours to grow on their bodies.^{[h] 7} When the people in Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, ‘The Covenant Box of Israel's God must not stay here with us. He is punishing us and our god Dagon.’

⁸ So the Philistine rulers met together. Ashdod's people asked them, ‘What should we do with the Covenant Box of Israel's God?’

The rulers answered, ‘Take it away to Gath.’ So the men took it to that city.^[i]

⁹ After they had moved the Covenant Box to Gath, the Lord punished the people in that city too. He made them all very afraid. He caused tumours to grow on them, young people as well as old people. ¹⁰ So then they took God's Covenant Box to Ekron.^[j]

When God's Covenant Box arrived in Ekron, the people screamed. They said, ‘They have brought the Covenant Box of Israel's God here! They want to kill us all!’ ¹¹ So they called the Philistine rulers to meet together. Ekron's people said to them, ‘Take away the Covenant Box of Israel's God! Send it back to its proper place. If you leave it here, it will kill us and all our families.’

All the people in the town were afraid of death. God had already started to punish them a lot. ¹² Many people had already died. All the other people in the town had tumours on their bodies. So they cried loudly up to the skies for help.

The Philistines give back God's Covenant Box

6 The Philistines had the Lord's Covenant Box in their country for seven months. ² Then they called their priests and their magicians to meet with them. The people asked them, ‘What must we do with the Lord's Covenant Box? Tell us how we should send it back to its home.’

³ The priests and magicians answered, ‘Send the Covenant Box of Israel's God back with a special offering. You must not send it back without anything. Send an offering so that their God will forgive you. Then you will get well again. You will understand why he has continued to punish you.’

⁴ The people asked, ‘What offering should we send to their God, so that he will forgive us?’

The priests and magicians replied, ‘You must send gold images of five tumours and five mice.^[k] You must make five images of each one because the Philistines have five rulers. They have the same disease that all of you have. ⁵ Make images of the tumours and the mice that are destroying everything in the country. Do that to give honour to the God of Israel. Maybe then he will stop punishing you, your gods and your land. ⁶ Do not be like the Egyptians and Pharaoh, their king. They did not agree to obey God. So God punished them a lot until they let the Israelites leave Egypt.

⁷ You must make a new cart. Find two cows that have just given birth to calves. It must be the first time that those cows have pulled a cart. Tie them to the cart with ropes so that they can pull it. Then take their calves away from them. ⁸ Put the Lord's Covenant Box on the cart. Put another box on the cart with the gold images inside it. Those are your offerings to their God so that he will forgive you. Then send the cart away. ⁹ But continue to watch it carefully. The cows may pull it across our border to Beth Shemesh in Israel. If that happens, we will know that the God of Israel has punished us with this great trouble. But if the cart goes somewhere else, we will know that it was not their God who did this to us. We will know that our disease happened only by chance.’

¹⁰ So the Philistines did what the priests and magicians told them. They took two cows that had just given birth to calves. They tied the cows to a cart. They took away their calves and they kept them at home. ¹¹ They put the Lord's Covenant Box on the cart. They put the other box beside it on the cart. That box contained the gold images of the mice and the tumours. ¹² The cows pulled the cart straight along the road towards Beth Shemesh. They did not turn off the road at all, to the left side or the right side. As they went, they made a lot of noise. The Philistine rulers walked behind the cart all the way, as far as the edge of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ The people who lived in Beth Shemesh were working in their fields in the valley. They were cutting their wheat at harvest time.^[l] They looked up and they saw the Lord's Covenant Box. It made them very happy. ^14-15 The cows pulled the cart into a field. It belonged to Joshua, who lived in Beth Shemesh. The cows stopped next to a large rock. The Levites took the Lord's Covenant Box off the cart. They put it on the large rock. They also put the box which contained the gold images on the rock. The people from Beth Shemesh cut up the cart. They used the wood to make a fire. Then they killed the cows. They burnt them on the fire as a burnt offering to the Lord. That day the people of Beth Shemesh offered many burnt offerings and other sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶ The five Philistine rulers watched them as they did that. Then they returned to Ekron on the same day.

¹⁷ The Philistines had sent the gold tumours as an offering to the Lord. They wanted him to forgive them. There was one gold tumour for each of their five towns: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. ¹⁸ The Philistines also sent five gold mice. There was one gold mouse for each of the five towns that had a ruler. Those were strong cities that had walls around them. Each town also had villages near to it. The large rock where the Levites put the Lord's Covenant Box is still there. So we remember what happened that day in Joshua's field in Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹ But some of the men from Beth Shemesh looked inside the Lord's Covenant Box. So God killed 70 of them. The people were very sad because the Lord had punished them so much. ²⁰ The people of Beth Shemesh said, ‘The Lord is a holy God! Nobody can go near to him! We must send his Covenant Box away from us. But who can ever take care of it?’

²¹ So they sent people to Kiriath-Jearim with a message.^[m] They said, ‘The Philistines have sent the Lord's Covenant Box back to Israel. Please come and take it from us. Take it to your town.’

7 So men came from Kiriath-Jearim to fetch the Lord's Covenant Box. They took it to Abinadab's house. His house was on a hill. They chose his son, Eleazar, to take care of the Lord's Covenant Box as his special job.

Samuel rules in Israel

² The Covenant Box stayed at Kiriath-Jearim for a long time. It was there for 20 years. During this time, the Israelites were sad. They prayed for the Lord to help them again.

³ Then Samuel said to all the Israelite people, ‘If you truly want to turn back to the Lord, you must show that you mean it. You must remove all your foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth.^[n] You must give your lives completely to the Lord. You must worship only the Lord. If you do that, he will save you from the power of the Philistines.’

⁴ So the Israelites removed all their idols of the false gods called Baal and Ashtoreth. They only worshipped the Lord.

⁵ Then Samuel told all the Israelites, ‘Meet together at Mizpah. I will pray to the Lord for you there.’

⁶ So they all met together at Mizpah. They got water from a well and they poured it out for the Lord. They did not eat food that day. They prayed and they said, ‘We have done bad things against the Lord.’

Samuel became leader of the Israelite people at Mizpah.

⁷ The Philistines heard the news that the Israelites had met together at Mizpah. So the Philistine rulers led their people to attack the Israelites. When the Israelites heard about this, they became very afraid of the Philistines. ⁸ They said to Samuel, ‘Pray to the Lord our God. Do not stop. Ask him to help us. Ask him to save us from the Philistines.’ ⁹ So Samuel took a baby lamb. He gave it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel asked the Lord to help the Israelites. The Lord answered his prayer in this way:

¹⁰ While Samuel was giving the burnt offerings to the Lord, the Philistines moved nearer to attack the Israelites. But the Lord caused a very loud noise of thunder to frighten the Philistines. They became very confused and they started to run away from the Israelites. ¹¹ Then the Israelite men came out from Mizpah. They chased the Philistines as far as a place near Beth-Kar. They killed the Philistines as they chased them.

¹² After that, Samuel took a stone. He fixed it in the ground between Mizpah and Shen. He called the stone Ebenezer.^[o] He said, ‘The Lord has helped us all this way.’

¹³ That is how the Israelites won the fight against the Philistines. The Philistines did not attack Israel land again. All the time that Samuel was alive, the Lord stopped the Philistines from attacking Israel.

¹⁴ The Israelites took back the towns and the land that the Philistines had taken from them. These towns were between Ekron and Gath. Also, the Israelites and the Amorites did not fight against each other.

¹⁵ Samuel continued to be the leader of the Israelites while he was alive. ¹⁶ Every year, he travelled to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah. In all those towns he was a judge for the Israelite people. ¹⁷ But he always returned to his home at Ramah. He was a judge for the Israelite people there too. He built an altar in Ramah to worship the Lord there.

The Israelites ask for a king

8 When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges for the Israelites.^{[p] 2} The name of his firstborn son was Joel. The name of his second son was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba town. ³ But Samuel's sons did not live in a good way, as Samuel had done. They took money from people in ways that were not honest. They accepted bribes so that they did not judge in a fair way.

⁴ So all of Israel's leaders went together to meet Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, ‘You are old. Your sons do not live in the way that you have done. All the other nations have kings to lead them. So choose a king to rule over us, like they have.’

⁶ When Israel's leaders said, ‘Choose a king who will lead us,’ Samuel was not happy. So he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to everything that the people are saying to you. I myself should be their king. So it is not you that they refuse to accept. It is me that they do not accept to be their king. ⁸ They are doing what they have always done. Since I brought them out of Egypt they have continued to turn away from me. They have chosen to serve other gods. Now they are turning against you in the same way. ⁹ So do what they are asking you to do. But warn them about what will happen. Tell them how their kings will rule over them.’

¹⁰ Samuel spoke to the people who had asked him to give them a king. He told them everything that the Lord had said to him. ¹¹ Samuel said to them, ‘This is how the king will rule over you: He will take your sons to be his soldiers. They will ride his horses and they will drive his chariots. They will have to run in front of his own chariot. ¹² The king will choose some of your sons to be officers in his army. Some will be leaders of 1,000 soldiers. Others will be leaders of 50 soldiers. Some of your sons will have to plough the king's fields. They will have to cut his crops at harvest time. They will have to make weapons for the king to fight wars. They will have to fix his chariots. ¹³ The king will take your daughters to serve him. They will have to make perfume for him. They will also have to cook and bake bread for him. ¹⁴ The king will take your best fields, vines and olive trees away from you. He will give all these to his own officers. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth part of all your seeds and grapes. He will give them to his officers and servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male and female servants for himself. He will take your best cows and your donkeys. He will use them for his own work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of all your sheep and your goats. You yourselves will become his servants too. ¹⁸ Then you will complain loudly to the Lord about your king that you have chosen to lead you. But the Lord will not answer you when you do that.’

¹⁹ But the people would not listen to Samuel. They said, ‘No! We want a king to rule us. ²⁰ We want to be like all the other nations! We want a king to rule us. He will be our leader when we go to fight our enemies.’

²¹ Samuel listened to everything that the people said. Then he told the Lord about it all. ²² The Lord said to Samuel, ‘You must do what they want. You must give a king to them.’

Then Samuel told Israel's people, ‘Return to your own towns, each of you.’

Saul looks for his father's donkeys

9 Kish was an important man from the tribe of Benjamin. He was the son of Abiel. Abiel was the son of Zeror. Zeror was the son of Becorath. Becorath was the son of Aphiah. Aphiah was a descendant of Benjamin. ² Kish had a son whose name was Saul. Saul was a handsome young man. No other Israelite was more handsome than he was. When Saul stood with other people, you could see his head above everyone else.

³ Some of Kish's donkeys had run away. Kish said to Saul, ‘Go and look for my donkeys. Take one of the servants with you.’ ⁴ So Saul and the servant travelled through the hill country of Ephraim. They went across Shalisha region. But they did not find the donkeys there. Then they went to Shaalim region. The donkeys were not there either. They travelled through all the tribe of Benjamin's land. They still did not find the donkeys anywhere.

⁵ They reached the land of Zuph's clan. Saul said to his servant, ‘We must return home now. We have been away for a long time. My father will start to think that we have become lost. He will not be thinking about the donkeys any more.’

⁶ The servant replied, ‘There is a servant of God who lives in this town. Everything that he says will happen really happens. So people respect him very much. We should go to meet him. Perhaps he will tell us which way we should go from here.’

⁷ Saul said to his servant, ‘That is good, but what will we give to him? We have eaten all the food that we brought with us in our bags. What else do we have? We must give him something.’

⁸ The servant answered, ‘I still have one small silver coin. I will give that to the servant of God. Then he will tell us which way we should go.’ ⁹ (That was the custom in Israel. If someone needed to hear a message from God, he would say, ‘We should go and talk with the seer.’^[q] The man that we now call a prophet was called a ‘seer’ at that time.)

¹⁰ Saul said to his servant, ‘That is a good idea. We should go now and see him.’ So they went to the town where the servant of God lived.

¹¹ They went up the hill to the town. Some young women came out of the town to get some water at a well. Saul and his servant asked them, ‘Is the seer here?’

¹² They said, ‘Yes, he is here. Go straight along this road. You must hurry. The seer came to the town today because the people will offer a sacrifice. He will go with them to the altar on the hill. ¹³ When you go into the town, you will find him before he goes up there. The people will not start to eat until he comes. First, he must bless the sacrifice. Then he will eat with the people who are there. Go up into the town now and you will find him.’

Saul meets Samuel

¹⁴ Saul and his servant went up towards the town. When they arrived there, Samuel came towards them. He was going up to the altar on the hill. ¹⁵ The day before Saul arrived, the Lord had already spoken to Samuel. He had said, ¹⁶ ‘Tomorrow I will send a man to you who comes from the land of Benjamin. He will arrive at about this time of day. Anoint him to be the ruler over my people, Israel. He will save my people from the power of the Philistines. My people have called out to me for help. Now I have decided to help them.’

¹⁷ When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, ‘Here is the man that I told you about. He will rule over my people.’

¹⁸ Saul met Samuel at the gate of the town. Saul said to him, ‘Please tell me where the seer's house is.’

¹⁹ Samuel said to him, ‘I am the seer! Go in front of me now to the altar on the hill. You and your servant will eat a meal with me there. Tomorrow morning I will send you back to your home. Before that, I will tell you what you want to know. ²⁰ Someone has already found the donkeys that you lost three days ago. Do not think any more about them. The only thing that the Israelite people want now is you! They want you and all your father's family.’

²¹ Saul answered, ‘I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. It is the smallest tribe in the nation of Israel. And my family belongs to the smallest clan in that tribe. So why do you speak like this to me?’

²² Then Samuel took Saul and his servant into the room where they would eat the meal. He made them sit in the most important seats in front of all the other people. About 30 people had come to eat the meal. ²³ Samuel said to the cook, ‘Please bring me the special piece of meat that I gave to you. I told you to keep that piece separate.’

²⁴ So the cook brought the leg of meat and he put it down in front of Saul. Samuel said to Saul, ‘I kept this special piece of meat for you to eat. Eat it now. I kept it separate for this time when we would eat together. I chose it for you when I asked the people to come and eat this special meal.’

So Saul ate the meal with Samuel that day.

²⁵ They came down from the hill and they went into the town. Samuel took Saul onto the roof of his house and they talked together.^{[r] 26} They got up at dawn the next day. Saul had been sleeping on the roof. Samuel shouted up to him, ‘Get up and prepare to leave. I will send you on your journey.’

Saul got ready to leave to go home. Saul and Samuel went out into the street together. ²⁷ They walked to the edge of the town. Samuel said to Saul, ‘Tell your servant to go on in front of us.’ So he did that.

Then Samuel said, ‘Stay here for a moment. I need to tell you God's message.’

Samuel anoints Saul

10 Then Samuel took a jar of oil and he poured the oil on Saul's head. He kissed Saul. He said:

‘The Lord has anointed you as the leader of his people.^[s] You will rule over them and you will rescue them from the power of their enemies. This is how you will know that the Lord has chosen you to be the leader of the Israelite people:

² After you leave me today, you will meet two men at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin's land. They will be near the grave where Rachel is buried. The men will say to you, “Someone has found the donkeys that you were looking for. Your father is no longer thinking about his donkeys. Now he is upset because he does not know where you are. He continues to ask, ‘What can I do about my son?’ ”

³ After you leave there, you will reach the big tree at Tabor. Three men will meet you there. They are going to Bethel to worship God there. One of the men will have three young goats with him. One of them will have three loaves of bread. The third man will have a bag full of wine. ⁴ They will say “hello” to you and they will offer you two loaves of bread. You must accept the bread. ⁵ Then you must go to God's special hill at Gibeah. Some Philistine soldiers have their camp there. When you reach the town, you will meet a group of prophets. They will be coming down from the hill where people worship God. They will be making music with their harps, tambourines, flutes and lyres. They will be prophesying as they go along. ⁶ Then the Lord's Spirit will come to you with power. You will start to prophesy too. You will change to become like a different person. ⁷ After you see these things happen, you must do whatever seems right to you. God will be with you.

⁸ You must go to Gilgal and then I will come there. I will join with you there to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. You must wait for seven days until I come. When I arrive at Gilgal, I will tell you what you should do.’

⁹ Saul turned away to leave Samuel. At that moment, God gave Saul a new nature. Everything that Samuel had said to Saul happened that day. ¹⁰ When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a group of prophets met them. God's Spirit came on Saul with power. He started to prophesy as the prophets were doing. ¹¹ People who already knew Saul could not understand what was happening. When they saw him prophesying along with the prophets, they asked each other, ‘What has happened to this son of Kish? Has Saul himself become a prophet?’

¹² A man who lived in Gibeah asked, ‘Do you know who is the father of all these prophets?’ Because of what happened, it became a proverb to say, ‘Has Saul himself become a prophet?’ ¹³ When Saul had finished prophesying, he went up to the hill where people worship God.

¹⁴ When Saul's uncle saw Saul and his servant, he asked them, ‘Where have you been?’ Saul said, ‘We went to look for the donkeys. We could not find them so we went to visit Samuel.’

¹⁵ Saul's uncle said, ‘What did Samuel say to you?’

¹⁶ Saul replied, ‘He told us that someone had found the donkeys.’ But Saul did not tell his uncle that Samuel had said that he would become the king.

Saul becomes the first king of Israel

¹⁷ Samuel sent a message to all Israel's people. He told them to come to Mizpah to meet with the Lord. ¹⁸ He said to them, ‘This is a message from the Lord, Israel's God: “I led you Israelites out from Egypt. I saved you from the power of the Egyptians. I also saved you from other kingdoms that were cruel to you. ¹⁹ I am the one who saves you from all your pain and troubles. But now you have turned against me, your God. You have said, ‘No! We want a king to rule over us instead.’ So now come and stand in front of the Lord. Stand together in your tribes and in your clans.” ’

²⁰ So each tribe came forward to Samuel, tribe by tribe. God chose Benjamin's tribe. ²¹ Then each family from Benjamin's tribe went forward. God chose the family of Matri. Then God chose Kish's son Saul from the family of Matri. They looked for Saul but nobody could find him. ²² So they asked the Lord, ‘Has Saul arrived here yet?’ The Lord said, ‘Yes, but he is hiding among the luggage.’

²³ So they ran to find Saul. They brought him out from there. When Saul stood among the people, you could see his head above everyone else. ²⁴ Samuel said to all the people, ‘Look! Here is the man that the Lord has chosen. There is nobody like him among all the people.’ Then the people shouted, ‘May the king live for a long time!’

²⁵ Then Samuel explained to the people all the rules about a king. He wrote everything in a book. He put the book in a special place where they worshipped the Lord. Then Samuel told all the people to go to back to their homes. ²⁶ Saul himself went back to his home at Gibeah. A group of brave men went with him. God had caused them to want to do that. ²⁷ But some wicked men were complaining. They said, ‘This man will never be able to save us.’ They did not respect Saul. They did not bring him any gifts. But Saul did not say anything against them.

Saul saves Jabesh town

11 One month later, Nahash went with his army to attack Jabesh, a town in Gilead region. Nahash was an Ammonite.^[t] The people in Jabesh said to him, ‘Make an agreement with us so that we will serve you.’ ² Nahash said, ‘I will make an agreement with you only if you let me do this. I must cut out the right eye of every person in your town. I want to bring shame on all Israel's people.’

³ The leaders of Jabesh said to him, ‘Wait for seven more days. We will send a message to all the people in Israel. We will ask them to rescue us. If nobody comes to save us, we will agree to whatever you say.’

⁴ Men took the message to Gibeah, the town where Saul lived. When they told the news to the people there, the people started to weep loudly. ⁵ Saul had been out on his farm. As he was returning home with his cows, he asked, ‘What has happened here? Why are the people weeping?’ They told Saul what the men from Jabesh had said.

⁶ When Saul heard the news, God's Spirit came on him with power. He became very angry. ⁷ He killed two of his oxen. He cut their bodies into pieces. He sent men with the pieces to all the towns in Israel. In each town, the men said, ‘Everyone must join Saul and Samuel to fight in their army. If you do not agree to join them, they will cut up your oxen just like this!’ The people became very afraid of what the Lord would do. So they all came together as one army. ⁸ They met together at Bezek. Saul counted 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 men from Judah.^[u]

⁹ Saul said to the men who had brought the news from Jabesh, ‘Return to Jabesh. Tell the people, “We will come to rescue you tomorrow, before midday.” ’

So the men took the message to the people in Jabesh. The people were very happy. ¹⁰ The men there said to Nahash, ‘Tomorrow we will come out of the town to you. Then you can do anything that you want to us.’

¹¹ Early the next day, Saul put his soldiers into three groups. At dawn, they attacked the camp of the Ammonite soldiers. The Israelite soldiers continued to kill the Ammonites until midday. The Ammonite soldiers who were still alive ran away in different directions. Each man ran off by himself.

¹² The Israelite people said to Samuel, ‘Bring to us those men who said, “We do not want Saul to rule over us.” We must kill them!’

¹³ Saul said, ‘No, you must not kill anyone today. It is the day when the Lord has rescued Israel's people.’

¹⁴ Samuel said to the people, ‘Now we will all go to Gilgal. We must all agree that Saul will continue to be our king.’ ¹⁵ So everyone went to Gilgal. They went to the place where they worshipped the Lord. They all agreed that Saul would be their king. They offered peace offerings to the Lord. Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.

Samuel speaks for the last time

12 Samuel said to all the Israelites, ‘I have done everything that you asked me to do. I have given you a king to rule over you. ² Listen! You now have a king to be your leader, instead of me. I am old and my hair is grey. My sons are here with you. I have been your leader from the time when I was young until now. ³ Look at me. I stand here where the Lord and his chosen king can see me. Speak now if I have done any wrong thing against you. Have I taken anyone's cow or anyone's donkey? Have I cheated anyone? Have I been cruel to anyone? Have I received bribes from anyone to say that they are not guilty? If I have done any of those things, tell me! Then I will pay back my debt.’

⁴ The Israelites answered, ‘You have not cheated us. You have not been cruel to us. You have not robbed any of us.’

⁵ Samuel said to them, ‘The Lord and his chosen king have heard what you have said today. They know that I have not done a wrong thing against any of you.’

The people replied, ‘Yes, the Lord knows what we have said.’

⁶ Then Samuel said to the people, ‘The Lord chose Moses and Aaron to lead his people. He brought your ancestors out from Egypt. ⁷ You must stand up now for the Lord to judge you. You need to remember all the great things that the Lord has done to help you and your ancestors. ⁸ After Jacob and his family went to Egypt, your ancestors called to the Lord for help. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron to help them. They led your ancestors out of Egypt. They brought them to live here in this land. ⁹ But your ancestors forgot about the Lord their God. So he let their enemies win against them. Sisera led an army from Hazor to attack the Israelites. The Philistines and the king of Moab also attacked them. ¹⁰ Then the Israelites called out to the Lord for help. They said, “We have done bad things. We have turned away from the Lord and we have worshipped idols of Baal and images of Ashtoreth.^[v] Please save us from our enemies and we will worship you.” ¹¹ So the Lord sent Gideon, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel to help you. The Lord saved you from all your enemies so that you could live safely.

¹² But then you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, was coming to attack you. So you said to me, “Now we want a king to rule over us.” You forgot that the Lord your God is your king. ¹³ Look! Here is the king that you chose. He is the man that you asked to have. The Lord has made him your king. ¹⁴ You must respect the Lord with fear. You must obey what he commands you to do. You and the king who rules over you must serve only the Lord your God. If you do that, everything will go well for you. ¹⁵ But the Lord will punish you and your king if you do not obey him. You must not turn against him again.

¹⁶ Now stand where you are and watch! The Lord will do a great thing and you will see it. ¹⁷ This is the time of the wheat harvest.^[w] I will ask the Lord to send thunder and rain. Then you will understand that you have done an evil thing against the Lord. You asked for a king to rule over you.’

¹⁸ Samuel prayed to the Lord. That same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. All the people became afraid of the Lord and of Samuel. ¹⁹ They said to Samuel, ‘Please pray to the Lord your God for us. We do not want to die! We realize that we have done many bad things in past times. Now we have added to those sins when we asked to have a king.’

²⁰ Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. It is true that you have done an evil thing. But do not turn away from the Lord. Instead, serve him with all your strength. ²¹ Do not worship idols. They are useless things. They cannot help you. They will never save you. ²² The Lord was pleased to choose you to be his own people. He will show that he is faithful and he will not leave you alone. ²³ As for me, I will not stop praying for you. That would be a sin against the Lord. I will teach you how to live in the right way. ²⁴ But you must respect and obey the Lord. You must serve him faithfully with all your strength. Remember the great things that he has done for you. ²⁵ If you continue to do evil things, that will be the end of you and your king.’

Jonathan attacks the Philistines

13 Saul was 30 years old when he became king. He ruled Israel as king for 42 years.^{[x] 2} He chose 3,000 men from Israel's army to be with him. 2,000 of those men stayed with him at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel. Then 1,000 men were with his son Jonathan at Gibeah, in the land of Benjamin's tribe. Saul sent all the other men of the army back to their homes.

³ Some Philistine soldiers had a camp at Geba. Jonathan attacked them there and all the Philistines heard about it. Saul sent a message through all Israel to warn people of the danger. He said, ‘Listen, all you Hebrew people!’^{[y] 4} Everyone in Israel heard this message: ‘Saul has attacked the Philistines' camp. Now the Philistines hate the Israelites even more than they did before.’ So all the soldiers in Israel came to join Saul at Gilgal.

Saul prepares to fight the Philistines

⁵ The Philistines' army came together to fight against the Israelites. The Philistines had 3,000 chariots. They had 6,000 soldiers who rode on horses. Their whole army had more soldiers than the sand on the shore of the sea! The Philistine army went to make their camp at Michmash, which was east of Beth Aven. ⁶ The Israelites realized that they would be in big trouble if the Philistines attacked them. Some of them went and hid in caves or among the bushes. Others hid among the rocks, in holes in the ground or in wells. ⁷ Some of the Israelite soldiers crossed the Jordan River. They escaped to the land of Gad and Gilead.

Saul himself stayed at Gilgal. All the soldiers that were still with him were shaking with fear. ⁸ Samuel had told Saul that he must wait for him to come to Gilgal. Saul waited for seven days as Samuel had said. But Samuel still had not arrived. Saul's army began to leave him.

⁹ So Saul said, ‘Bring the burnt offering and the peace offerings to me.’ Then Saul offered the burnt offering to God. ¹⁰ Just as he finished doing that, Samuel arrived. Saul went to meet Samuel and to say ‘hello’.

¹¹ Samuel asked Saul, ‘What have you done?’

Saul replied, ‘The soldiers were starting to leave me. You had not arrived here at the time that you said you would come. I could see that the Philistine soldiers were preparing for battle at Michmash. ¹² I thought that they would come to attack me at Gilgal. I thought, “Before they do that, I must ask the Lord to help us in the fight.” Because of that, I had to offer the burnt offering to him.’

¹³ Samuel said, ‘You have done a foolish thing. You have not obeyed the command of the Lord your God. If you had obeyed the Lord, he would have let you and your family rule Israel for ever. ¹⁴ But because of what you have done, your kingdom will not continue. Instead, the Lord will find a man who pleases him. The Lord has decided that this man will become the leader of his people, instead of you. He will do that because you have not obeyed his command.’

¹⁵ After that, Samuel left Gilgal. He went to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin's tribe. Saul counted the soldiers who were still with him. There were about 600 men.

¹⁶ Saul and his son Jonathan were staying in Geba, in the land of Benjamin's tribe. They had their soldiers with them there.

The Philistines had their camp at Michmash. ¹⁷ The Philistines sent out three small groups of soldiers to attack towns in Israel. One group went towards Ophrah in the land of Shual. ¹⁸ The second group went towards Beth Horon. The third group went to Israel's border where they could see across Zeboim Valley towards the wilderness.

¹⁹ At that time, there were no people in Israel who could use iron to make things. The Philistines had said, ‘We must not let the Hebrew people make swords and spears.’ ²⁰ So the Israelites had to ask the Philistines to mend their ploughs, axes, hoes and knives that they used on their farms. ²¹ The Israelites had to pay eight grams of silver for the Philistines to make each plough or hoe sharp again. They paid four grams of silver for each axe, knife or ox-goad.^[z]

²² So when the fight started, the soldiers that were with Saul and Jonathan did not have any swords or spears. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

Jonathan attacks the Philistines

²³ A group of Philistine soldiers went to the narrow road across the hills at Michmash.

14 A young man carried the armour of Saul's son Jonathan. One day, Jonathan said to the young man, ‘Come with me. We will go over to the place where the Philistine soldiers have their camp.’ But Jonathan did not tell his father what he was doing.

² Saul was staying near Gibeah. He sat under a big fruit tree at Migron. There were about 600 soldiers with him. ³ The priest Ahijah was with Saul. Ahijah wore the priest's ephod. Ahijah was the son of Ichabod's brother, Ahitub. Ahitub was the son of Phinehas and the grandson of Eli. Eli was the priest who had served the Lord in Shiloh.^[aa]

Nobody knew that Jonathan had left. ⁴ To reach the Philistines, he had to go along a narrow valley. There were high rocks on both sides of the road. The name of one rock was ‘Bozez’. The name of the other rock was ‘Seneh’. ⁵ The rock on the north side of the road was near Michmash. The rock on the south side was near Geba.

⁶ Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Now we will go to the camp of those foreign people. Perhaps the Lord will help us to win the fight. He can win a battle whether there are many soldiers or only a few.’

⁷ The young man said, ‘You must do whatever you think is right. I will serve you faithfully all the way.’

⁸ Jonathan said, ‘Listen! We will go across to the Philistines now. We will let them see us. ⁹ They may tell us to stop and wait for them to come to us. If they say that, we will stay here. ¹⁰ But they may ask us to go up and fight against them. Then we will do that. We will know that the Lord has put them under our power. It will be his sign to us.’

¹¹ Jonathan and the young man stood where the Philistine soldiers could see them. The Philistines said, ‘Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding.’ ¹² They shouted to Jonathan and the young man, ‘Come up here to fight against us! We will teach you how to fight!’

Jonathan said to the young man, ‘Follow me as I climb up to them. The Lord has put those men under Israel's power!’

¹³ Jonathan climbed up the rock wall on his hands and his feet. The young man climbed up behind him. Jonathan attacked and killed some of the Philistines. The young man followed behind Jonathan and killed more of them. ¹⁴ In the first fight, Jonathan and his young man killed about 20 Philistines in a small area.

¹⁵ All the other soldiers in the Philistine army then became very afraid. This included the soldiers in the camp, those in the fields, those who were guards, and the groups who were attacking other towns. Even the ground shook because God had made them all very afraid.

¹⁶ Some of Saul's soldiers who were with him in Gibeah were watching the Philistines. They saw that their soldiers were running away in different directions. ¹⁷ Saul said to his men, ‘Count our soldiers. Find out who is not here.’ When they did that, Jonathan and the young man who carried his armour were not there.

¹⁸ Saul said to Ahijah the priest, ‘Bring the ephod here.’ At that time, Ahijah was wearing the ephod. ¹⁹ While Saul was saying this, the Philistine soldiers were making more and more noise. They were all very confused. So Saul said to the priest, ‘Take your hand out of the ephod. It is time to go!’^[ab]

²⁰ Then Saul and all the soldiers who were with him marched out to battle. They found that the Philistines were completely confused. They were fighting each other with their swords. ²¹ Before this time, some of the Hebrew men had gone to join with the Philistine army. Now they went back to join the Israelite army with Saul and Jonathan. ²² The Israelite soldiers who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim also heard the news. When they knew that the Philistine soldiers were running away, they chased after them as well. ²³ In that way, the Lord saved Israel's people on that day. The battle moved all the way to Beth Aven and beyond it.

After the battle

²⁴ The Israelite soldiers became very weak and hungry that day. Saul had told his army to agree to this promise: ‘Nobody may eat any food before this evening. By then I will have won against my enemies. If anyone eats anything before then, may God curse him!’ So no soldier in Saul's army ate any food.

²⁵ Saul's army went into a forest. There was honey on the ground. ²⁶ The men saw all the honey but none of them ate any of it. They were afraid that God would curse them. ²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard about the soldiers' promise to his father. He pushed the end of his stick into the honey. He took some honey on his fingers and he ate it. Then he felt stronger. ²⁸ One of the soldiers told Jonathan, ‘Your father made us promise not to eat any food today. We all agreed that God should curse anyone who eats anything. That is why we are all so weak.’

²⁹ Jonathan said, ‘My father has caused a lot of trouble for all the people. Look what happened when I ate only a little bit of honey. I became strong again! ³⁰ When our army won against our enemies today, we could have eaten the food that they left. Then our soldiers would have been strong enough to kill many more Philistines.’

³¹ That day, the Israelite army killed many Philistine soldiers. They chased the Philistines all the way from Michmash to Aijalon. After this, the Israelites became tired and weak. ³² So they quickly took sheep, cows and calves from the Philistines as food to eat. The soldiers were so hungry that they killed the animals on the ground. Then they ate the meat with the blood still in it.

³³ Someone told Saul, ‘Look at what the army is doing. They are eating meat that still has blood in it. That is a sin against the Lord.’

Saul said to his soldiers, ‘You have turned against the Lord! Find a large stone and roll it here to me.’

³⁴ Then Saul said, ‘Go around to tell all the soldiers, “Bring the cows and the sheep here. Kill them properly and eat them here. Do not eat meat which still has blood in it. That is a sin against the Lord.” ’ So that night every soldier brought an animal. They killed their animals on the stone.

³⁵ Then Saul built an altar to worship the Lord. It was the first time that he had built an altar for the Lord.

³⁶ Then Saul said, ‘We will go tonight and we will attack the Philistines again. We will chase them all night until dawn. We will kill all of them.’

The men answered, ‘Do whatever you think is right.’

But the priest said, ‘We should ask God first.’

³⁷ Saul asked God, ‘Should we attack the Philistines? Will you give us power over them?’ But God did not answer Saul that day.

³⁸ So Saul said to all the leaders of the army, ‘Come here. Someone has done a bad thing today. We must find out who has done it. ³⁹ The Lord is the one who rescues Israel. As surely as the Lord lives, I promise that I will punish the man who has done this bad thing. Whoever it is must die, even if it is my own son Jonathan.’ But nobody in the army said anything.

⁴⁰ Saul said to all the Israelites, ‘You stand on this side. My son Jonathan and I will stand on the other side.’

The people answered, ‘Do what you think is right.’

⁴¹ Then Saul prayed to the Lord, Israel's God. He said, ‘Please show us who has done this sin. Let the special stones, Urim and Thummim, show who has done it.’^[ac] The stones chose Jonathan and Saul. They did not choose the soldiers of the army.

⁴² Then Saul said, ‘Let the stones show whether it was Jonathan or me.’ The stones chose Jonathan.

⁴³ Saul said to Jonathan, ‘Tell me what you have done.’

Jonathan told him, ‘I pushed the end of my stick into some honey. I ate a little bit. You have said that I must die.’

⁴⁴ Saul said, ‘Jonathan, you must surely die! I ask God to kill me if I do not punish you with death.’

⁴⁵ But the soldiers said to Saul, ‘No! Jonathan must not die! He has rescued Israel in battle. As surely as the Lord lives, we promise that he will not lose even one hair on his head. It is God who has helped Jonathan to win the fight today.’

In that way, the army saved Jonathan from death.

⁴⁶ After that, Saul stopped fighting against the Philistines. The Philistines returned to their homes.

Saul leads Israel as their king

⁴⁷ After Saul became king of Israel, he fought against all their enemies. He fought against the Moabites, the Ammonites and the Edomites. He fought against the kings who ruled in Zobah. He also fought against the Philistines. Saul won against all Israel's enemies, wherever they were. ⁴⁸ He fought very bravely and he won against the Amalekites. Saul kept Israel safe from all the people who attacked them.

⁴⁹ Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki-Shua.^[ad] Saul had two daughters. Merab was his older daughter. Michal was his younger daughter. ⁵⁰ The name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam. She was the daughter of Ahimaaz. Abner was the leader of Saul's army. He was the son of Saul's uncle, Ner. ⁵¹ Abiel was the father of both Saul's father, Kish, and Abner's father, Ner.

⁵² During all of Saul's life there were wars between the Philistines and the Israelites. If Saul found a strong soldier or a brave man, he caused the man to join his army.

Saul fights against the Amalekites

15 Samuel said to Saul, ‘The Lord sent me to anoint you as king to rule his people, the Israelites. So now listen to this message from the Lord. ² This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It is time to punish the Amalekites! When the Israelites came out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them. ³ Now go and attack the Amalekites. Completely destroy everything that they have. Do not save anything. Kill the men and women, as well as their children and babies. Kill their cows, sheep, camels and donkeys.” ’

⁴ So Saul called his army to come together. The men met at Telaim and Saul counted them. There were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and another 10,000 men from Judah's tribe. ⁵ Saul and his army went to the city of the Amalekites. They waited in a small valley to attack their enemy. ⁶ Saul said to the Kenite people, ‘Go away from here! I will kill the Amalekites, but I do not want to kill you. You were kind to the Israelites when they came out from Egypt.’ So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.^[ae]

⁷ Then Saul attacked the Amalekites. He fought them all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸ Saul caught their king, Agag, while he was still alive. Saul's soldiers used their swords to kill all of Agag's people. ⁹ But Saul and the army let King Agag live. Also, they did not kill the best sheep, lambs, cows and fat calves. They kept all the good things and they did not agree to destroy them. But they killed everything that was weak and useless.

Samuel tells Saul God's message

¹⁰ Then the Lord gave this message to Samuel: ¹¹ ‘I am sorry that I chose Saul to be king. He has turned away from me. He has not obeyed my commands.’

When Samuel heard that, he was very upset. He prayed aloud to the Lord all that night.

¹² Samuel got up early the next morning. He went to meet Saul. Someone told Samuel, ‘Saul went to Carmel. He has put up a tall stone to give himself honour. Now he has left there and he has gone to Gilgal.’

¹³ Samuel went and he found Saul. Saul said to Samuel, ‘I pray that the Lord will bless you. I have obeyed the Lord's command.’ ¹⁴ But Samuel said, ‘If that is true, why can I hear the noise of sheep and cows?’

¹⁵ Saul answered, ‘My soldiers took them from the Amalekites. They saved the best sheep and cows. They will offer them to the Lord your God as sacrifices. We killed all the other animals.’

¹⁶ Samuel said to Saul, ‘Listen to me! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ Saul said, ‘Tell me.’

¹⁷ Samuel said, ‘At one time, you thought that you were not an important person. Now you have become the leader of all the tribes of Israel. The Lord chose you to be king of Israel. ¹⁸ He gave you a job to do. He told you, “Go and kill all those wicked Amalekites. Fight against them until you have destroyed them all.” ¹⁹ Why did you not obey the Lord? Instead you have been greedy. You have hurried to take things for yourself. You have done something evil that does not please the Lord.’

²⁰ Saul said to Samuel, ‘I did obey the Lord! I did the job that the Lord told me to do. I killed all the Amalekites and I brought back Agag, their king. ²¹ But the army did not kill all the sheep and cows that they took from the Amalekites. They brought the best animals to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’

²² But Samuel said, ‘What makes the Lord happy? Which is better? Is he more pleased when people offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to him? Or is he more pleased when people obey him? Listen! It is better to obey the Lord than to offer sacrifices to him. That is true even if you offer to him the best animals that you have.

²³ You have turned against God. That is worse than using magic. You think that you know what is right better than God does. That is as bad as worshipping idols. You decided not to obey the Lord's command. Now the Lord has decided that you will not be king any longer.’

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘It is true, I have done a bad thing. I did not obey the Lord's command. I did not do what you told me to do. I was afraid of the army. I agreed to do what they wanted. ²⁵ Please forgive my sin. Return with me so that I can worship the Lord.’

²⁶ But Samuel said to Saul, ‘I will not return with you. You refused to obey the Lord's command. So now the Lord has decided that you will no longer be king of Israel.’

²⁷ Samuel turned away to leave Saul. But Saul pulled the edge of Samuel's coat and it tore. ²⁸ Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today. He has given it to a man who is better than you. ²⁹ The great God who rules over Israel always does what he says he will do. He does not change his mind. People may change their minds, but he does not!’

³⁰ Saul said again, ‘I have done a bad thing. But please show Israel's leaders and people that you respect me. Please return with me so that I can worship the Lord your God.’

³¹ So Samuel went back with Saul. Saul worshipped the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, ‘Bring Agag, king of the Amalekites, to me.’

Agag came to Samuel. Agag was happy because he thought, ‘I am sure that now I will not have to die a painful death.’

³³ But Samuel said to Agag, ‘You have used your sword to kill the children of many mothers. Now your own mother will have no children that are still alive.’ Then Samuel cut Agag into pieces at the Lord's altar in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel left Gilgal and he went to his home in Ramah. Saul went to his home in Gibeah. ³⁵ Until Samuel died, he never saw Saul again. Samuel was very sad about Saul. But the Lord was sorry that he had chosen Saul to be king of Israel.