Old/New Testament

7 The men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the special box of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. They set apart his son Eleazar to keep the special box of the Lord.

Samuel Judges for Israel

² The special box stayed in Kiriath-jearim a long time, for it was twenty years. And all the family of Israel cried with sorrow for the Lord.

³ Then Samuel said to all the family of Israel, “Return to the Lord with all your heart. Put away the strange gods and the false goddess Ashtaroth from among you. Turn your hearts to the Lord and worship Him alone. Then He will save you from the Philistines.” ⁴ So the people of Israel put away from among them the false gods of Baal and Ashtaroth and worshiped the Lord alone.

⁵ Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel together at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶ So they gathered at Mizpah. They got water and poured it out before the Lord as a gift, and did not eat that day. They said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. ⁷ The Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, so the leaders of the Philistines went to battle against them. When the people of Israel heard about it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸ The Israelites said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the Philistines.” ⁹ Samuel took a young lamb and gave it as a whole burnt gift to the Lord. Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. ¹⁰ As Samuel was burning the gift to the Lord, the Philistines came near to battle against Israel. But the Lord made a loud thunder that day against the Philistines, making them afraid. So they lost the battle with Israel. ¹¹ The men of Israel left Mizpah and went after the Philistines, killing them almost as far as Bethcar.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen. He gave it the name Ebenezer, saying, “The Lord has helped us this far.” ¹³ So the Philistines were beaten. They did not come into the land of Israel again. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel’s life. ¹⁴ The cities the Philistines had taken from Israel were returned, from Ekron to Gath. Israel saved their land from the Philistines. So there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ Every year he went around to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. ¹⁷ Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there. He judged Israel there also, and built an altar to the Lord.

Israel Asks for a King

8 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges in Israel. ² The name of his first-born son was Joel. And the name of his second son was Abijah. They were men who judged in Beersheba. ³ But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside to get money. They took pay to do things that were not right and fair. ⁴ Then all the leaders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “See, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Choose a king to rule over us like all the nations.” ⁶ But Samuel was not pleased when they said, “Give us a king to rule over us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all they say to you. For they have not turned away from you. They have turned away from Me, that I should not be king over them. ⁸ They are doing to you what they have done since the day I brought them out of Egypt until now. They have turned away from Me and worshiped other gods. ⁹ So listen to their voice. But tell them of the danger and show them the ways of the king who will rule over them.”

¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “This will be the way the king will rule over you. He will take your sons and make them drive his war-wagons, be his horsemen, and run in front of his war-wagons. ¹² He will choose leaders of thousands and of fifties. He will choose men to plow his ground, gather his grain, and make objects for war and for his war-wagons. ¹³ He will take your daughters to make perfume, work with the food, and make bread. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vines and olives, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth part of your grain and your vines to give to his leaders and his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your men servants and your women servants and the best of your cattle and your donkeys, and use them for his work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth part of your flocks, and you yourselves will be made to work for him. ¹⁸ You will cry out in that day because of your king you have chosen for yourselves. But the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹ But the people would not listen to Samuel. They said, “No! We will have a king rule over us, ²⁰ so we may be like other nations. Our king may rule over us and go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹ After Samuel heard all the people’s words, he told the Lord what they had said. ²² The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and choose a king for them.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every one of you go home to his city.”

Saul Is Chosen to Be the King

9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite. He was a powerful man of action. ² He had a son whose name was Saul, a good-looking young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel who was better looking than he. He was a head taller than any of the people. ³ Now the donkeys of Saul’s father Kish were lost. So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants and go look for the donkeys.” ⁴ They passed through the hill country of Ephraim and the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. They passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them.

⁵ When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, let us return. My father might stop worrying about the donkeys and start worrying about us.” ⁶ The servant said, “See, there is a man of God in this city, and people honor him. All that he says comes true. Let us go there. It may be that he can tell us where we should go.” ⁷ Then Saul said to his servant, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? The bread in our bags is gone. There is no gift to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” ⁸ The servant answered Saul and said, “See, I have a fourth of a piece of silver in my hand. I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us the way to go.” ⁹ (Before in Israel, when a man went to ask God a question, he would say, “Come, let us go to the man of God.” For he who is called a man who speaks for God now, was called a seer before.) ¹⁰ Saul said to his servant, “What you said is good. Come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

¹¹ As they went up the hill to the city, they met young women going out to get water. They said to them, “Is the man of God here?” ¹² The women answered, “He is. Look, he is up in front of you. Hurry now, for he has come to the city today because the people are giving a gift in worship on the high place today. ¹³ You will find him as you go into the city, before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not eat until he comes to give thanks for the gift. Then those who are asked to come will eat. Now go up, for you will find him at once.” ¹⁴ So they went up to the city. As they came into the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them to go up to the high place.

¹⁵ Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had told Samuel, ¹⁶ “I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin about this time tomorrow. Choose him to be the leader of My people Israel. And he will save My people from the Philistines. For I have seen the trouble of My people. I have heard their cry. ¹⁷ When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “Here is the man I told you about. He is the one who will rule over My people.” ¹⁸ Then Saul came to Samuel in the gate, and said, “Tell me, where is the man of God’s house?” ¹⁹ Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the man of God. Go up before me to the high place. For you will eat with me today, and tomorrow I will let you go. And I will tell you all that is on your mind. ²⁰ Do not worry about your donkeys which were lost three days ago, for they have been found. And for whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?” ²¹ Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest of the family groups of Israel? Is not my family the least important of all the families of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me this way?”

²² Then Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the meeting room. He gave them a place at the head of those who were asked to come, about thirty men. ²³ Samuel said to the one who was making the food ready, “Bring the part I gave you and told you to set aside.” ²⁴ So the man picked up the leg with what was on it and set it in front of Saul. And Samuel said, “Here is what has been saved for you. Eat. It has been kept for you until the right time, ever since I asked the people to come.” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

²⁵ When they came down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof. ²⁶ They got up early the next day. Samuel called to Saul on the roof, saying, “Get up, that I may send you on your way.” So Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

Saul Is Made King

²⁷ As they were going out of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on before us, but you stand here. Then I will make the Word of God known to you.”

Peter Says Jesus Is the Christ ^(A)

¹⁸ While Jesus was praying alone, His followers were with Him. Jesus asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” ¹⁹ They said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah. Others say that one of the early preachers has been raised from the dead.” ²⁰ Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ of God.”

Jesus Tells of His Death for the First Time ^(B)

²¹ Then Jesus spoke to them and told them to tell no one. ²² He said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. The leaders and the religious leaders and the teachers of the Law will have nothing to do with Him. He must be killed and be raised from the dead three days later.”

Giving Up Self and One’s Own Desires

²³ Then Jesus said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow Me, he must give up himself and his own desires. He must take up his cross everyday and follow Me. ²⁴ If anyone wants to keep his own life safe, he must lose it. If anyone gives up his life because of Me, he will save it. ²⁵ For what does a man have if he gets all the world and loses or gives up his life? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His own shining-greatness and of the Father’s and of the holy angels. ²⁷ I tell you the truth, some standing here will not die until they see the holy nation of God.”

A Look at What Jesus Will Be Like ^(C)

²⁸ About eight days after Jesus had said these things, He took Peter and James and John with Him. They went up on a mountain to pray. ²⁹ As Jesus prayed, He was changed in looks before them. His clothes became white and shining bright. ³⁰ Two men talked with Jesus. They were Moses and Elijah. ³¹ They looked like the shining-greatness of heaven as they talked about His death in Jerusalem which was soon to happen.

³² But Peter and those with him had gone to sleep. When they woke up, they saw His shining-greatness and the two men who stood with Him. ³³ As the two men went from Jesus, Peter said to Him, “Teacher, it is good for us to be here. Let us build three tents to worship in. One will be for You. One will be for Moses. One will be for Elijah.” He did not know what he was saying. ³⁴ While he was talking, a cloud came over them. They were afraid as the cloud came in around them.

³⁵ A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, the One I have chosen. Listen to Him!” ³⁶ When the voice was gone, Jesus was standing there alone. From that time on, they kept these things to themselves. They told no one what they had seen.