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Saul Anointed by Samuel
10 Samuel took a flask of olive oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Yahweh has anointed you to be ruler of his people Israel. You will rule his people and save them from all their enemies. This will be the sign that Yahweh has anointed you[a] to be ruler of his people. 2 When you leave me today, two men will be at Rachel’s grave on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They’ll tell you, ‘We’ve found the donkeys you went looking for. Your father no longer cares about them. Instead, he’s worried about you. He keeps asking, “What can I do to find my son?”’ 3 Keep going until you come to the oak tree at Tabor. There you will find three men on their way to worship Elohim at Bethel: One will be carrying three young goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a full wineskin. 4 They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you should accept from them. 5 After that, you will come to the hill of Elohim, where the Philistines have a military post. When you arrive at the city, you will meet a group of prophets prophesying as they come from the worship site. They will be led by men playing a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre. 6 Then the Ruach Yahweh will come over you. You will be a different person while you prophesy with them. 7 When these signs happen to you, do what you must, because Elohim is with you. 8 Go ahead of me to Gilgal. Then I will come to sacrifice burnt offerings and make fellowship offerings. Wait seven days until I come to tell you what to do.”
Saul’s Anointing Confirmed by Signs
9 When Saul turned around to leave Samuel, Elohim changed Saul’s attitude. That day all these signs happened. 10 When Saul came to the hill, a group of prophets came to meet him, and the Ruach Elohim came over him. He prophesied with them. 11 When all who had known him before saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people asked one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul one of the prophets?” 12 But a man from that place asked, “But who’s the chief prophet?” So it became a proverb: “Is Saul one of the prophets?” 13 And when he had finished prophesying, he came to the worship site.
14 Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?”
Saul answered, “To look for the donkeys, and when we couldn’t find them, we went to Samuel.”
15 Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”
16 “He assured us the donkeys had been found,” Saul answered his uncle. But Saul didn’t tell him what Samuel said about his becoming king.
The Lord Chooses Saul
17 Samuel called the people to come into the presence of Yahweh at Mizpah. 18 He said to the Israelites, “This is what Yahweh Elohim of Israel says: I brought Israel out of Egypt and rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and all the kings who were oppressing you. 19 But now you have rejected your Elohim, who saves you from all your troubles and distresses. You said, ‘No! Place a king over us.’ Now then, stand in front of Yahweh by your tribes and family groups.”
20 When Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. 21 When he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by families, the family of Matri was chosen. Then Saul, the son of Kish, was chosen. They looked for him but couldn’t find him. 22 They asked Yahweh again, “Has he arrived here yet?”
Yahweh answered, “He’s hiding among the baggage.”
23 They ran and got him from there. As he stood among the people, he was a head taller than everyone else. 24 Samuel asked the people, “Do you see whom Yahweh has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”
Then all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
25 Samuel explained the laws concerning kingship to the people. He wrote the laws on a scroll, which he placed in front of Yahweh. Then Samuel sent the people back to their homes. 26 Saul also went home to Gibeah. With him went some soldiers whose hearts Elohim had touched. 27 However, some good-for-nothing people asked, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and wouldn’t bring him presents, but he didn’t respond.
Saul Defeats Ammon
11 King Nahash of Ammon was severely oppressing the tribes of Gad and Reuben. He would poke out everyone’s right eye and allow no one to rescue Israel. There was no one among the Israelites east of the Jordan River whose right eye King Nahash of Ammon had not poked out. However, seven thousand men had escaped from the Ammonites and gone to Jabesh Gilead. About a month later[b] Nahash the Ammonite blockaded Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we’ll serve you.”
2 Nahash the Ammonite responded, “I’ll make a treaty with you on this one condition: I’ll poke out everyone’s right eye and bring disgrace on all Israel.”
3 The leaders of Jabesh told him, “Give us seven days so that we can send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. And if there’s no one to save us, we’ll surrender to you.”
4 The messengers came to Saul’s town, Gibeah. When they told the people the news, the people cried loudly. 5 Just then Saul was coming from the field behind some oxen. “Why are these people crying?” Saul asked. So they told him the news about the men of Jabesh. 6 When he heard this news, the Ruach Elohim came over him, and he became very angry. 7 Saul took a pair of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent them by messengers throughout the territory of Israel with the following message: “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who doesn’t follow Saul and Samuel into battle.” So the people became terrified by Yahweh, and they came out united behind Saul. 8 When Saul counted them at Bezek, there were 300,000 troops from Israel and 30,000 troops from Judah. 9 They told the messengers who had come, “This is what you are to say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun gets hot, you will be rescued.’” When the men of Jabesh received the message, they were overjoyed.
10 They said to Nahash, “Tomorrow we’ll surrender to you, and you may do to us whatever you think is right.”
11 The next day Saul arranged the army in three divisions. They came into the Ammonite camp during the morning hours and continued to defeat the Ammonites until it got hot that day. The survivors were so scattered that no two of them were left together.
12 Then the people asked Samuel, “Who said that Saul shouldn’t rule us? Let us have them, and we’ll kill them.”
13 But Saul said, “No one will be killed today, because today Yahweh saved Israel.”
14 Samuel told the troops, “Come, let’s go to Gilgal and there acknowledge Saul’s kingship.” 15 Then all the troops went to Gilgal, and there in Yahweh’s presence, they confirmed Saul as their king. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings to Yahweh. Saul and all of Israel’s soldiers celebrated.
43 Yeshua responded, “Stop criticizing me! 44 People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day. 45 The prophets wrote, ‘God will teach everyone.’ Those who do what they have learned from the Father come to me. 46 I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. 47 I can guarantee this truth: Every believer has eternal life.
48 “I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. 50 This is the bread that comes from heaven so that whoever eats it won’t die. 51 I am the living bread that came from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give to bring life to the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews began to quarrel with each other. They said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Yeshua told them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will bring them back to life on the last day. 55 My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57 The Father who has life sent me, and I live because of the Father. So those who feed on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate. They eventually died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
59 Yeshua said this while he was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. 60 When many of Yeshua’s disciples heard him, they said, “What he says is hard to accept. Who wants to listen to him anymore?”
61 Yeshua was aware that his disciples were criticizing his message. So Yeshua asked them, “Did what I say make you lose faith? 62 What if you see the Son of Man go where he was before? 63 Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life. 64 But some of you don’t believe.” Yeshua knew from the beginning those who wouldn’t believe and the one who would betray him. 65 So he added, “That is why I told you that people cannot come to me unless the Father provides the way.”
66 Yeshua’s speech made many of his disciples go back to the lives they had led before they followed Yeshua. 67 So Yeshua asked the twelve apostles, “Do you want to leave me too?”
68 Simon Peter answered Yeshua, “Lord, to what person could we go? Your words give eternal life. 69 Besides, we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Yeshua replied, “I chose all twelve of you. Yet, one of you is a devil.” 71 Yeshua meant Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Judas, who was one of the twelve apostles, would later betray Yeshua.
BOOK FIVE
(Psalms 107–150)
Psalm 107
1 Give thanks to Yahweh because he is good,
because his mercy endures forever.
2 Let the people Yahweh defended repeat these words.
They are the people he defended from the power of their enemies
3 and gathered from other countries,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered around the desert on a deserted road
without finding an inhabited city.
5 They were hungry and thirsty.
They began to lose hope.
6 In their distress they cried out to Yahweh.
He rescued them from their troubles.
7 He led them on a road that went straight to an inhabited city.
8 Let them give thanks to Yahweh because of his mercy.
He performed his miracles for Adam’s descendants.
9 He gave plenty to drink to those who were thirsty.
He filled those who were hungry with good food.
10 Those who lived in the dark, in death’s shadow
were prisoners in misery.
They were held in iron chains
11 because they had rebelled against El’s words
and had despised the advice given by Elyon.
12 So he humbled them with hard work.
They fell down, but no one was there to help them.
13 In their distress they cried out to Yahweh.
He saved them from their troubles.
14 He brought them out of the dark, out of death’s shadow.
He broke apart their chains.
15 Let them give thanks to Yahweh because of his mercy.
He performed his miracles for Adam’s descendants.
16 He shattered bronze gates
and cut iron bars in two.
17 Fools suffered because of their disobedience
and because of their crimes.
18 All food was disgusting to them,
and they came near death’s gates.
19 In their distress they cried out to Yahweh.
He saved them from their troubles.
20 He sent his message and healed them.
He rescued them from the grave.
21 Let them give thanks to Yahweh because of his mercy.
He performed his miracles for Adam’s descendants.
22 Let them bring songs of thanksgiving as their sacrifice.
Let them tell in joyful songs what he has done.
23 Those who sail on the sea in ships,
who do business on the high seas,
24 have seen what Yahweh can do,
the miracles he performed in the depths of the sea.
25 He spoke, and a storm began to blow,
and it made the waves rise high.
26 The sailors aboard ship rose toward the sky.
They plunged into the depths.
Their courage melted in the face of disaster.
27 They reeled and staggered like drunks,
and all their skills as sailors became useless.
28 In their distress they cried out to Yahweh.
He led them from their troubles.
29 He made the storm calm down,
and the waves became still.
30 The sailors were glad that the storm was quiet.
He guided them to the harbor they had longed for.
31 Let them give thanks to Yahweh because of his mercy.
He performed his miracles for Adam’s descendants.
32 Let them glorify him when the people are gathered for worship.
Let them praise him in the company of respected leaders.
33 He changes rivers into a desert,
springs into thirsty ground,
34 and fertile ground into a layer of salt
because of the wickedness of the people living there.
35 He changes deserts into lakes
and dry ground into springs.
36 There he settles those who are hungry,
and they build cities to live in.
37 They plant in fields and vineyards
that produce crops.
38 He blesses them, and their numbers multiply,
and he does not allow a shortage of cattle.
39 They became few in number and were humiliated
because of oppression, disaster, and sorrow.
40 He poured contempt on their influential people
and made them stumble around in a pathless desert.
41 But now he lifts needy people high above suffering
and makes their families like flocks.
42 Decent people will see this and rejoice,
but all the wicked people will shut their mouths.
43 Let those who think they are wise
pay attention to these things
so that they may understand Yahweh’s blessings.
15 A gentle answer turns away rage,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
2 The tongues of wise people give good expression to knowledge,
but the mouths of fools pour out a flood of stupidity.
3 The eyes of Yahweh are everywhere.
They watch evil people and good people.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.