Old/New Testament

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.^[a] 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.^[b] 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.^[c]

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.^[d] 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.^[e] 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.’

Jesus makes a boy well

³⁷ The next day Jesus came down from the mountain with the three disciples. A large crowd met him. ³⁸ A man from the crowd shouted to him. ‘Teacher, please, I ask you to help my son. He is my only child. ³⁹ Sometimes a bad spirit takes hold of him and then he screams. The spirit throws his body first one way then another and water comes out of his mouth. The spirit gives him a lot of pain and it does not leave him alone very much. ⁴⁰ I asked your disciples to send the bad spirit out of him. But they could not do it.’

⁴¹ Jesus said, ‘You people today still do not believe in God. You have turned away from him. I have been with you for a long time and still you do not believe. It is difficult for me to be patient with you.’ Then Jesus said to the man, ‘Bring your son here.’

⁴² While the boy was coming, the bad spirit threw him to the ground. It threw the boy first one way and then the other. ‘Stop!’ Jesus said to it. He then made the boy well and he gave him back to his father.

⁴³ Everybody was very surprised at what they saw. They knew that God was very powerful.

Jesus speaks again about his death

The people were still thinking with surprise about everything that Jesus was doing. Then he began to talk to his disciples. ⁴⁴ He said to them, ‘Do not forget what I am telling you now. Soon they will deliver the Son of Man to powerful people to kill him.’ ⁴⁵ But they did not understand what Jesus had said. Its meaning was a secret to them, so they could not understand. But they were afraid to ask Jesus, ‘What do you mean?’

Who will be the most important?

⁴⁶ Then the disciples began to argue with each other. They argued about which of them was the most important. ⁴⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he took a child and he made him stand there at his side. ⁴⁸ Jesus said, ‘If someone accepts this child because of me, then he also accepts me. And anyone who accepts me also accepts my Father God, who sent me. The person who makes himself the least important among you is really the greatest.’^[a]

⁴⁹ John then said, ‘Teacher, we saw a man who was speaking to people that had bad spirits in them. He was saying, “Jesus says that you must come out.” We told the man that he must not do this. We said that because he is not in our group.’

⁵⁰ ‘Do not try to stop him,’ Jesus said, ‘If someone is not against you, he is working to help you.’

People in a village in Samaria do not accept Jesus

⁵¹ The time came when God would soon take Jesus up to heaven. Jesus knew this, so he began to go towards Jerusalem. ⁵² He arrived near a village in the country of Samaria. He sent some people into the village with a message. They went to ask for a place to stay for the night. ⁵³ But the people in the village would not let him stay there. This was because he was going to Jerusalem.^[b]

⁵⁴ Then James and John heard about what had happened. They asked Jesus, ‘Master, do you want us to ask God to send fire down from the sky? Do you want us to kill these people?’

⁵⁵ Jesus turned round. ‘No!’ he said, ‘Do not do that. That would be wrong.’ ⁵⁶ Then they all went on to another village.

What it costs to obey Jesus

⁵⁷ They continued on their journey. A man came and spoke to Jesus. He said, ‘I will go with you. And I will go with you everywhere that you go.’

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, ‘Wild animals and birds have their own places to live. But I, the Son of Man, have no place of my own to lie down and rest.’

⁵⁹ Then Jesus said to another man, ‘Come with me!’ The man replied, ‘First let me go home and bury my father. Then I will come with you.’

⁶⁰ ‘No!’ Jesus said, ‘Let people who are dead themselves bury their own dead people. You should go and tell people about the kingdom of God.’^[c]

⁶¹ Another man said, ‘Sir, I will come with you. But please let me first go home to say “Goodbye” to my family.’

⁶² Jesus replied, ‘A man that ploughs a field must continue to look straight in front of him. If he looks behind him, he cannot plough well. People that look back behind them cannot work well for the kingdom of God.’