Old/New Testament
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.[a]
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.
Samuel anoints David as king
16 The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Stop being sad about Saul. I have decided that he will no longer be the king of Israel. Fill your horn with olive oil and go.[b] I am sending you to a man whose name is Jesse. He lives in Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to become king.’
2 Samuel said, ‘If I go to do that, people will tell Saul about it. Then he will kill me.’
The Lord said, ‘Take a calf with you. Tell the people that you have come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. 3 Then ask Jesse to come to the sacrifice. I will show you what to do after that. I will show you the person that you must anoint with the oil.’
4 Samuel obeyed the Lord. He went to Bethlehem. The leaders of the town went to meet Samuel, but they were very afraid. They asked him, ‘Have you come to visit us as a friend?’
5 Samuel replied, ‘Yes. I do not bring any trouble. I have come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Make yourselves clean. Then come to the sacrifice with me.’
Samuel made Jesse and his sons clean to worship the Lord. Then he took them with him to the sacrifice.
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Jesse's son Eliab. Samuel thought, ‘I am sure that the Lord has chosen this man to be king.’
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at how handsome or how tall Eliab is. I have not chosen him. The Lord does not look at people in the way that people do. People look at the face and body of a person. But the Lord sees what they are like inside.’
8 Then Jesse called his son Abinadab. Jesse caused him to stand in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, ‘The Lord has not chosen this man either.’
9 Jesse caused his son Shammah to stand in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, ‘The Lord has not chosen this man.’
10 Jesse caused seven of his sons to stand in front of Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these men.’
11 Samuel asked Jesse, ‘Are those all of your sons?’
Jesse answered, ‘I have one more son. He is the youngest. He is taking care of my sheep.’
Samuel said, ‘Send someone to bring him here. We cannot continue to offer the sacrifice until he arrives.’
12 So Jesse told his men to bring his youngest son for Samuel to see. This young man was handsome and strong and he had beautiful eyes.
The Lord said to Samuel, ‘I have chosen this man. Now anoint him as king.’
13 Samuel took the horn that was full of olive oil. He poured the oil over David's head to anoint him. Samuel did this in front of David's brothers. From that moment, the Spirit of the Lord came on David with great power.
Then Samuel returned to his home in Ramah.
David becomes Saul's servant
14 The Spirit of the Lord had now gone away from Saul. The Lord sent an evil spirit to Saul. It gave Saul trouble and fear in his mind.
15 Saul's servants said to him, ‘We know that God has sent an evil spirit which is giving you much trouble. 16 If you agree, we will look for a man who can make music on a harp. When the evil spirit gives you trouble, this man can make music. Then you will not feel so upset.’
17 Saul agreed and he said to his servants, ‘Find someone who can make good music with a harp. Then bring him to me.’
18 One of the servants said, ‘I know one man who can play a harp very well. He is one of Jesse's sons, who lives in Bethlehem. This man is a brave soldier. He speaks well and he is handsome. The Lord is with him.’
19 So Saul sent his men to Jesse with this message: ‘Tell your son David to come to me. That is your son who takes care of your sheep.’
20 So Jesse took some loaves of bread, a bag with wine in it, and a young goat. He put them on the back of a donkey and he sent them to Saul with his son David.
21 David went to Saul. He became Saul's servant. Saul loved David. David carried Saul's armour for him. 22 Then Saul sent a message to Jesse. He said, ‘I am very pleased with David. Let him stay here as my servant.’
23 So, when the evil spirit brought trouble to Saul, David made music on his harp. Then Saul would feel happier and the evil spirit would leave him.
A story about a good man from Samaria
25 A teacher of God's Law stood up. He wanted to see how Jesus would answer his question. So he asked Jesus, ‘Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’
26 ‘What does God's Law say?’ Jesus asked. ‘What do you understand when you read it?’
27 The man replied, ‘It says that we must love the Lord our God with all our mind and with all our strength. We must love him with all that we are and in all that we think. It also says that we must love other people as much as we love ourselves.’[a]
28 ‘You have told me the right answer,’ Jesus said. ‘If you do this, you will have true life with God.’
29 But the man wanted to show that he had been right to ask a question. So he asked, ‘Who are the people near to me that I must love?’
30 Jesus answered him with a story: ‘A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho town. On the way, some men attacked him. They took away all his clothes and they hit him with sticks. He was almost dead when they left him. 31 But it happened that a priest from the temple was going down that road. He saw the man, who was lying there. But he walked past him on the other side of the road. 32 A Levite was also going down the road. He came to the place where the man was lying. He saw him. But he also walked past on the other side of the road.[b]
33 But then a man from Samaria was also travelling along the road. And he came to the place where the man was lying. When he saw him, he felt very sorry for him. 34 He went across to him. He poured oil and wine on the places where he was bleeding.[c] Then he tied those places with clean cloths. After that, he put the man on his own donkey to carry him. They arrived at a small hotel. He took the man in there and he was kind to him.[d]
35 The next day, the man from Samaria took out two silver coins from his purse.[e] He gave the money to the man that was taking care of the hotel. “Be kind to this man for me,” he said. “This money may not be enough. When I return, I will pay you for any more that you have spent on him.” ’
36 Then Jesus asked the teacher of God's Law a question. He said, ‘Three men saw the man that was lying on the road. Which of them showed love to him, like a real friend?’
37 The teacher answered, ‘It was the man who was kind to him.’
Then Jesus said to him, ‘Yes. So you should go and do the same for other people.’
Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary
38 Jesus and his disciples continued their journey. They arrived at a certain village. There, a woman called Martha asked Jesus to come into her home.[f] 39 Martha had a sister called Mary. Mary sat down near Jesus. She was listening to the things that he was teaching. 40 But Martha was thinking to herself, ‘I cannot do all this work alone.’ So she went to Jesus. She said, ‘Master, my sister is not helping me with the work. She has left me to do it alone. You surely do not think that this is right! Tell her that she should help me!’
41 The Lord Jesus replied, ‘Martha, Martha, you have troubles in your mind about many things. 42 But only one thing is really important. That is what Mary has chosen to do. Nobody will take it away from her.’[g]
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