1 Samuel 7; 1 Samuel 8; 1 Samuel 9

1 So the people of Kiriath-jearim came and took the LORD's chest. They brought it to Abinadab's house, which was on the hill. Then they dedicated Eleazar, Abinadab's son, to care for the LORD's chest.

2 Now a long time passed—a total of twenty years—after the chest came to stay in Kiriath-jearim, and the whole house of Israel yearned for the LORD.

3 Then Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are turning to the LORD with all your heart, then get rid of all the foreign gods and the Astartes you have. Set your heart on the LORD! Worship him only! Then he will deliver you from the Philistines' power."

4 So the Israelites got rid of the Baals and the Astartes and worshipped the LORD only.

5 Next Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah. I will pray to the LORD for you."

6 So they assembled at Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it out in the LORD's presence. They fasted that same day and confessed, "We have sinned against the LORD." Samuel served as judge of the Israelites at Mizpah.

7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had assembled at Mizpah, the Philistine rulers went up to attack Israel. When the Israelites learned of this, they were afraid of the Philistines.

8 The Israelites said to Samuel, "Please don't stop praying to the LORD our God for us, so God will save us from the Philistines' power!"

9 So Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as an entirely burned offering to the LORD. Samuel cried out in prayer to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him.

10 While Samuel was offering the entirely burned offering, the Philistines advanced to attack Israel. But the LORD thundered against the Philistines with a great blast on that very day, throwing the Philistines into such a panic that they were defeated by Israel.

11 The Israelite soldiers came out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines. They struck them down until they reached a place just below Beth-car.

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, "The LORD helped us to this very point."

13 So the Philistines were defeated, and they stopped coming into Israelite territory. The LORD's hand was against the Philistines throughout Samuel's life.

14 The towns the Philistines had captured from Israel, from Ekron to Gath, were returned to Israel. Israel also recovered the territory around those two cities from the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

15 Samuel served as Israel's judge his whole life.

16 Each year he traveled between Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, serving as Israel's judge in each of those locations.

17 Then he would return to Ramah because that's where his home was. In Ramah too he served as Israel's judge, and that is also where he built an altar to the LORD.

1 Now when Samuel got old, he appointed his sons to serve as Israel's judges.

2 The name of his oldest son was Joel; the name of the second was Abijah. They served as judges in Beer-sheba.

3 But Samuel's sons didn't follow in his footsteps. They tried to turn a profit, they accepted bribes, and they perverted justice.

4 So all the Israelite elders got together and went to Samuel at Ramah.

5 They said to him, "Listen. You are old now, and your sons don't follow in your footsteps. So appoint us a king to judge us like all the other nations have."

6 It seemed very bad to Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us," so he prayed to the LORD.

7 The LORD answered Samuel, "Comply with the people's request—everything they ask of you—because they haven't rejected you. No, they've rejected me as king over them.

8 They are doing to you only what they've been doing to me from the day I brought them out of Egypt to this very minute, abandoning me and worshipping other gods.

9 So comply with their request, but give them a clear warning, telling them how the king will rule over them."

10 Then Samuel explained everything the LORD had said to the people who were asking for a king.

11 "This is how the king will rule over you," Samuel said: "He will take your sons, and will use them for his chariots and his cavalry and as runners for his chariot.

12 He will use them as his commanders of troops of one thousand and troops of fifty, or to do his plowing and his harvesting, or to make his weapons or parts for his chariots.

13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, or bakers.

14 He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his servants.

15 He will give one-tenth of your grain and your vineyards to his officials and servants.

16 He will take your male and female servants, along with the best of your cattle and donkeys, and make them do his work.

17 He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and then you yourselves will become his slaves!

18 When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you chose for yourselves, but on that day the LORD won't answer you."

19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel and said, "No! There must be a king over us

20 so we can be like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and lead us and fight our battles."

21 Samuel listened to everything the people said and repeated it directly to the LORD.

22 Then the LORD said to Samuel, "Comply with their request. Give them a king." Samuel then told the Israelite people, "Go back, each of you, to your own hometown."

1 There was a wealthy man from the tribe of Benjamin named Kish. He was the son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite.

2 He had a son named Saul, who was a handsome young man. No one in Israel was more handsome than Saul, and he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

3 When the donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were lost, Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servant boys with you and go look for the donkeys."

4 So he traveled through the highlands of Ephraim and the land of Shalishah, but they didn't find anything. They traveled through the land of Shaalim, but still found nothing, so they crossed back into the land of Benjamin, but they still couldn't find the donkeys.

5 When they came to the territory of Zuph, Saul said to the boy who was with him, "Let's go back before my father stops worrying about the donkeys and starts worrying about us."

6 But the boy said to him, "Listen, there's a man of God in this town. He's famous—everything he says actually happens! So let's go there. Maybe he'll be able to tell us which way we should go."

7 Saul said to his young boy, "But if we go, what should we bring to the man? The food in our bags is all gone. We don't have any gift to offer the man of God. Do we have anything?"

8 "Here," the boy answered Saul, "I've got a quarter-shekel of silver. I'll give that to the man of God so he tells us which way to go." (

9 Earlier in Israel, someone going to consult with God would say, "Let's go to the seer," because the people who are called prophets today were previously called seers.)

10 Saul said to the boy, "Great idea! Let's go." So they went into the town where the man of God lived.

11 They were going up the hill to the town when they met some young women coming out to draw water. "Is the seer here?" they asked them.

12 "He's just ahead of you," they answered. "Hurry up! He has just come to town because there is a sacrifice today for the people at the shrine.

13 You'll find him as soon as you enter the town, before he goes up to the shrine to eat. The people won't eat until he gets there, because he must bless the sacrifice. Only after that can the invited guests eat. Now get going because you'll find him momentarily."

14 So Saul and the boy went up to the town, and as they entered it, suddenly Samuel came toward them on his way up to the shrine.

15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed the following to Samuel:

16 "About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the Benjaminite territory. You will anoint him as leader of my people Israel. He will save my people from the Philistines' power because I have seen the suffering of my people, and their cry for help has reached me."

17 When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, "That's the man I told you about. That's the one who will rule my people."

18 Saul approached Samuel in the city gate and said, "Please tell me where the seer's house is."

19 "I'm the seer," Samuel told Saul. "Go on ahead of me to the shrine. You can eat with me today. In the morning I'll send you on your way, and I will tell you everything you want to know.

20 As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, don't be worried about them because they've been found. Who owns all of Israel's treasures, anyway? Isn't it you and your whole family?"

21 "I'm a Benjaminite," Saul responded, "from the smallest Israelite tribe, and my family is the littlest of the families in the tribe of Benjamin. Why would you say something like that to me?"

22 Then Samuel took Saul and his young servant and brought them to the banquet room. He gave them an honored place among the invited guests. There were about thirty total.

23 Samuel said to the cook, "Serve the portion I gave you—the one I told you to set aside."

24 So the cook took the thigh and what was on it, and put it in front of Saul. Samuel said, "Look, what had been reserved is now in front of you. Eat up, because it was set apart for you for this specific occasion, ever since I invited the guests." So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

25 When they came back from the shrine to the town, a bed was made for Saul on the roof, and he slept.

26 Near dawn, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "Wake up! I will send you on your way." So Saul got up, and the two of them, he and Samuel, went outside.

27 As they were nearing the edge of town Samuel said, "Tell the boy to go on ahead of us" (the servant did so) "but you stop for a bit so I can tell you God's word."