12stone Camp Devotional

"An INVITATION to FOLLOW : A 5-Day Journey Into Discipleship"

Multivitamins - Fuel Your Faith in 5-Minutes (Pt.1)

Healing Family Relationships Through Boundaries

Forgive and Be Free

Adventure in Evangelism

From Overwhelmed to Anchored: A 5-Day Reset for Spirit-Led Women in Business

Cornerstone: Rebuild, Renew, Restore

Learning From Nehemiah

Divine Incursions (In the Life of Jacob)

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">Tola</div><div class="p"> 1After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. 2He led#10:2 Traditionally judged; also in verse 3 Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.</div><div class="s1">Jair</div><div class="p"> 3He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. 4He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.#10:4 Or called the settlements of Jair 5When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.</div><div class="s1">Jephthah</div><div class="p"> 6Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, 7he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, 8who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. 9The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. 10Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, &#8220;We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11The Lord replied, &#8220;When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites#10:12 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts Midianites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? 13But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15But the Israelites said to the Lord, &#8220;We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.&#8221; 16Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel&#8217;s misery no longer.</div><div class="p"> 17When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. 18The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, &#8220;Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">11</div><div class="p"> 1Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. 2Gilead&#8217;s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. &#8220;You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,&#8221; they said, &#8220;because you are the son of another woman.&#8221; 3So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.</div><div class="p"> 4Some time later, when the Ammonites were fighting against Israel, 5the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6&#8220;Come,&#8221; they said, &#8220;be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Jephthah said to them, &#8220;Didn&#8217;t you hate me and drive me from my father&#8217;s house? Why do you come to me now, when you&#8217;re in trouble?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8The elders of Gilead said to him, &#8220;Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head over all of us who live in Gilead.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Jephthah answered, &#8220;Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me&#8212;will I really be your head?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10The elders of Gilead replied, &#8220;The Lord is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.&#8221; 11So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.</div><div class="p"> 12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: &#8220;What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah&#8217;s messengers, &#8220;When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, 15saying:</div><div class="pmo">&#8220;This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. 16But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea#11:16 Or the Sea of Reeds and on to Kadesh. 17Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, &#8216;Give us permission to go through your country,&#8217; but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.</div><div class="pm"> 18&#8220;Next they traveled through the wilderness, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.</div><div class="pm"> 19&#8220;Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, &#8216;Let us pass through your country to our own place.&#8217; 20Sihon, however, did not trust Israel#11:20 Or however, would not make an agreement for Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his troops and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.</div><div class="pm"> 21&#8220;Then the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel&#8217;s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, 22capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.</div><div class="pm"> 23&#8220;Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? 24Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us, we will possess. 25Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them? 26For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn&#8217;t you retake them during that time? 27I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.&#8221;</div><div class="m"> 28The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.</div><div class="p"> 29Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: &#8220;If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord&#8217;s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.</div><div class="p"> 34When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, &#8220;Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36&#8220;My father,&#8221; she replied, &#8220;you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37But grant me this one request,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38&#8220;You may go,&#8221; he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.</div><div class="p">From this comes the Israelite tradition 40that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">Jephthah and Ephraim</div><div class="p"> 1The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, &#8220;Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We&#8217;re going to burn down your house over your head.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2Jephthah answered, &#8220;I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn&#8217;t save me out of their hands. 3When I saw that you wouldn&#8217;t help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, &#8220;You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.&#8221; 5The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, &#8220;Let me cross over,&#8221; the men of Gilead asked him, &#8220;Are you an Ephraimite?&#8221; If he replied, &#8220;No,&#8221; 6they said, &#8220;All right, say &#8216;Shibboleth.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; If he said, &#8220;Sibboleth,&#8221; because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.</div><div class="p"> 7Jephthah led#12:7 Traditionally judged; also in verses 8-14 Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead.</div><div class="s1">Ibzan, Elon and Abdon</div><div class="p"> 8After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. 9He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years. 10Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.</div><div class="p"> 11After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years. 12Then Elon died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.</div><div class="p"> 13After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel. 14He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years. 15Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">The Birth of Samson</div><div class="p"> 1Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.</div><div class="p"> 2A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, &#8220;You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6Then the woman went to her husband and told him, &#8220;A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn&#8217;t ask him where he came from, and he didn&#8217;t tell me his name. 7But he said to me, &#8216;You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: &#8220;Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10The woman hurried to tell her husband, &#8220;He&#8217;s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, &#8220;Are you the man who talked to my wife?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I am,&#8221; he said.</div><div class="p"> 12So Manoah asked him, &#8220;When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy&#8217;s life and work?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13The angel of the Lord answered, &#8220;Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, &#8220;We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16The angel of the Lord replied, &#8220;Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.&#8221; (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.)</div><div class="p"> 17Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, &#8220;What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18He replied, &#8220;Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.#13:18 Or is wonderful&#8221; 19Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 22&#8220;We are doomed to die!&#8221; he said to his wife. &#8220;We have seen God!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23But his wife answered, &#8220;If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, 25and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.</div>
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 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Samson&#8217;s Marriage</div><div class="p"> 1Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2When he returned, he said to his father and mother, &#8220;I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3His father and mother replied, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?&#8221;</div><div class="p">But Samson said to his father, &#8220;Get her for me. She&#8217;s the right one for me.&#8221; 4(His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)</div><div class="p"> 5Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. 7Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.</div><div class="p"> 8Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion&#8217;s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. 9He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion&#8217;s carcass.</div><div class="p"> 10Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. 11When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;Let me tell you a riddle,&#8221; Samson said to them. &#8220;If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13If you can&#8217;t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Tell us your riddle,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Let&#8217;s hear it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14He replied,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Out of the eater, something to eat;</div><div class="q2">out of the strong, something sweet.&#8221;</div><div class="m">For three days they could not give the answer.</div><div class="p"> 15On the fourth#14:15 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew seventh day, they said to Samson&#8217;s wife, &#8220;Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father&#8217;s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Then Samson&#8217;s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, &#8220;You hate me! You don&#8217;t really love me. You&#8217;ve given my people a riddle, but you haven&#8217;t told me the answer.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I haven&#8217;t even explained it to my father or mother,&#8221; he replied, &#8220;so why should I explain it to you?&#8221; 17She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.</div><div class="p"> 18Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;What is sweeter than honey?</div><div class="q2">What is stronger than a lion?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samson said to them,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;If you had not plowed with my heifer,</div><div class="q2">you would not have solved my riddle.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father&#8217;s home. 20And Samson&#8217;s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.</div>
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 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">Samson&#8217;s Vengeance on the Philistines</div><div class="p"> 1Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to my wife&#8217;s room.&#8221; But her father would not let him go in.</div><div class="p"> 2&#8220;I was so sure you hated her,&#8221; he said, &#8220;that I gave her to your companion. Isn&#8217;t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Samson said to them, &#8220;This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.&#8221; 4So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.</div><div class="p"> 6When the Philistines asked, &#8220;Who did this?&#8221; they were told, &#8220;Samson, the Timnite&#8217;s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7Samson said to them, &#8220;Since you&#8217;ve acted like this, I swear that I won&#8217;t stop until I get my revenge on you.&#8221; 8He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.</div><div class="p"> 9The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10The people of Judah asked, &#8220;Why have you come to fight us?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;We have come to take Samson prisoner,&#8221; they answered, &#8220;to do to him as he did to us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He answered, &#8220;I merely did to them what they did to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12They said to him, &#8220;We&#8217;ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samson said, &#8220;Swear to me that you won&#8217;t kill me yourselves.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;Agreed,&#8221; they answered. &#8220;We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.&#8221; So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.</div><div class="p"> 16Then Samson said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;With a donkey&#8217;s jawbone</div><div class="q2">I have made donkeys of them.#15:16 Or made a heap or two; the Hebrew for donkey sounds like the Hebrew for heap.</div><div class="q1">With a donkey&#8217;s jawbone</div><div class="q2">I have killed a thousand men.&#8221;</div><div class="m"> 17When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.#15:17 Ramath Lehi means jawbone hill.</div><div class="p"> 18Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, &#8220;You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?&#8221; 19Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore,#15:19 En Hakkore means caller&#8217;s spring. and it is still there in Lehi.</div><div class="p"> 20Samson led#15:20 Traditionally judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Samson and Delilah</div><div class="p"> 1One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2The people of Gaza were told, &#8220;Samson is here!&#8221; So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, &#8220;At dawn we&#8217;ll kill him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.</div><div class="p"> 4Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, &#8220;See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels#16:5 That is, about 28 pounds or about 13 kilograms of silver.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6So Delilah said to Samson, &#8220;Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Samson answered her, &#8220;If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9With men hidden in the room, she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.</div><div class="p"> 10Then Delilah said to Samson, &#8220;You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11He said, &#8220;If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.</div><div class="p"> 13Delilah then said to Samson, &#8220;All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.&#8221;</div><div class="p">He replied, &#8220;If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I&#8217;ll become as weak as any other man.&#8221; So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14and#16:13,14 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew replied, &#8220;I can if you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom.&#8221; 14 So she tightened it with the pin.</div><div class="p">Again she called to him, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221; He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.</div><div class="p"> 15Then she said to him, &#8220;How can you say, &#8216;I love you,&#8217; when you won&#8217;t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven&#8217;t told me the secret of your great strength.&#8221; 16With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.</div><div class="p"> 17So he told her everything. &#8220;No razor has ever been used on my head,&#8221; he said, &#8220;because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother&#8217;s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, &#8220;Come back once more; he has told me everything.&#8221; So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.#16:19 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts and he began to weaken And his strength left him.</div><div class="p"> 20Then she called, &#8220;Samson, the Philistines are upon you!&#8221;</div><div class="p">He awoke from his sleep and thought, &#8220;I&#8217;ll go out as before and shake myself free.&#8221; But he did not know that the Lord had left him.</div><div class="p"> 21Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.</div><div class="s1">The Death of Samson</div><div class="p"> 23Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, &#8220;Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Our god has delivered our enemy</div><div class="q2">into our hands,</div><div class="q1">the one who laid waste our land</div><div class="q2">and multiplied our slain.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25While they were in high spirits, they shouted, &#8220;Bring out Samson to entertain us.&#8221; So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.</div><div class="p">When they stood him among the pillars, 26Samson said to the servant who held his hand, &#8220;Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.&#8221; 27Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28Then Samson prayed to the Lord, &#8220;Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.&#8221; 29Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30Samson said, &#8220;Let me die with the Philistines!&#8221; Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.</div><div class="p"> 31Then his brothers and his father&#8217;s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led#16:31 Traditionally judged Israel twenty years.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch17" data-usfm="JDG.17">
 <div class="label">17</div><div class="s1">Micah&#8217;s Idols</div><div class="p"> 1Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim 2said to his mother, &#8220;The eleven hundred shekels#17:2 That is, about 28 pounds or about 13 kilograms of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse&#8212;I have that silver with me; I took it.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then his mother said, &#8220;The Lord bless you, my son!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, &#8220;I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make an image overlaid with silver. I will give it back to you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels#17:4 That is, about 5 pounds or about 2.3 kilograms of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol. And it was put in Micah&#8217;s house.</div><div class="p"> 5Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest. 6In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.</div><div class="p"> 7A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah, 8left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way#17:8 Or To carry on his profession he came to Micah&#8217;s house in the hill country of Ephraim.</div><div class="p"> 9Micah asked him, &#8220;Where are you from?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I&#8217;m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and I&#8217;m looking for a place to stay.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Then Micah said to him, &#8220;Live with me and be my father and priest, and I&#8217;ll give you ten shekels#17:10 That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 grams of silver a year, your clothes and your food.&#8221; 11So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man became like one of his sons to him. 12Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. 13And Micah said, &#8220;Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch18" data-usfm="JDG.18">
 <div class="label">18</div><div class="s1">The Danites Settle in Laish</div><div class="p"> 1In those days Israel had no king.</div><div class="p">And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 2So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, &#8220;Go, explore the land.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So they entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. 3When they were near Micah&#8217;s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they turned in there and asked him, &#8220;Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4He told them what Micah had done for him, and said, &#8220;He has hired me and I am his priest.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Then they said to him, &#8220;Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6The priest answered them, &#8220;Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord&#8217;s approval.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, at peace and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous.#18:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.#18:7 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts with the Arameans</div><div class="p"> 8When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their fellow Danites asked them, &#8220;How did you find things?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9They answered, &#8220;Come on, let&#8217;s attack them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Aren&#8217;t you going to do something? Don&#8217;t hesitate to go there and take it over. 10When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then six hundred men of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. 12On their way they set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan#18:12 Mahaneh Dan means Dan&#8217;s camp. to this day. 13From there they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah&#8217;s house.</div><div class="p"> 14Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their fellow Danites, &#8220;Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, some household gods and an image overlaid with silver? Now you know what to do.&#8221; 15So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah&#8217;s place and greeted him. 16The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance of the gate. 17The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance of the gate.</div><div class="p"> 18When the five men went into Micah&#8217;s house and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods, the priest said to them, &#8220;What are you doing?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19They answered him, &#8220;Be quiet! Don&#8217;t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn&#8217;t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man&#8217;s household?&#8221; 20The priest was very pleased. He took the ephod, the household gods and the idol and went along with the people. 21Putting their little children, their livestock and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left.</div><div class="p"> 22When they had gone some distance from Micah&#8217;s house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites. 23As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, &#8220;What&#8217;s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24He replied, &#8220;You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, &#8216;What&#8217;s the matter with you?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25The Danites answered, &#8220;Don&#8217;t argue with us, or some of the men may get angry and attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.&#8221; 26So the Danites went their way, and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.</div><div class="p"> 27Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. 28There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob.</div><div class="p">The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. 29They named it Dan after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel&#8212;though the city used to be called Laish. 30There the Danites set up for themselves the idol, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses,#18:30 Many Hebrew manuscripts, some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate; many other Hebrew manuscripts and some other Septuagint manuscripts Manasseh and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. 31They continued to use the idol Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJDG">
 <div class="chapter ch19" data-usfm="JDG.19">
 <div class="label">19</div><div class="s1">A Levite and His Concubine</div><div class="p"> 1In those days Israel had no king.</div><div class="p">Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents&#8217; home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, 3her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents&#8217; home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. 4His father-in-law, the woman&#8217;s father, prevailed on him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.</div><div class="p"> 5On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the woman&#8217;s father said to his son-in-law, &#8220;Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go.&#8221; 6So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the woman&#8217;s father said, &#8220;Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.&#8221; 7And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. 8On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the woman&#8217;s father said, &#8220;Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!&#8221; So the two of them ate together.</div><div class="p"> 9Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the woman&#8217;s father, said, &#8220;Now look, it&#8217;s almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on your way home.&#8221; 10But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.</div><div class="p"> 11When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, &#8220;Come, let&#8217;s stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12His master replied, &#8220;No. We won&#8217;t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.&#8221; 13He added, &#8220;Come, let&#8217;s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.&#8221; 14So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. 15There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them in for the night.</div><div class="p"> 16That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. 17When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, &#8220;Where are you going? Where did you come from?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18He answered, &#8220;We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord.#19:18 Hebrew, Vulgate, Syriac and Targum; Septuagint going home No one has taken me in for the night. 19We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants&#8212;me, the woman and the young man with us. We don&#8217;t need anything.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;You are welcome at my house,&#8221; the old man said. &#8220;Let me supply whatever you need. Only don&#8217;t spend the night in the square.&#8221; 21So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.</div><div class="p"> 22While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, &#8220;Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23The owner of the house went outside and said to them, &#8220;No, my friends, don&#8217;t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don&#8217;t do this outrageous thing. 24Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don&#8217;t do such an outrageous thing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.</div><div class="p"> 27When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28He said to her, &#8220;Get up; let&#8217;s go.&#8221; But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.</div><div class="p"> 29When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, &#8220;Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch20" data-usfm="JDG.20">
 <div class="label">20</div><div class="s1">The Israelites Punish the Benjamites</div><div class="p"> 1Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah. 2The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God&#8217;s people, four hundred thousand men armed with swords. 3(The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, &#8220;Tell us how this awful thing happened.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, &#8220;I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. 5During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. 6I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel&#8217;s inheritance, because they committed this lewd and outrageous act in Israel. 7Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8All the men rose up together as one, saying, &#8220;None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. 9But now this is what we&#8217;ll do to Gibeah: We&#8217;ll go up against it in the order decided by casting lots. 10We&#8217;ll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah#20:10 One Hebrew manuscript; most Hebrew manuscripts Geba, a variant of Gibeah in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for this outrageous act done in Israel.&#8221; 11So all the Israelites got together and united as one against the city.</div><div class="p"> 12The tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, &#8220;What about this awful crime that was committed among you? 13Now turn those wicked men of Gibeah over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. 14From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. 15At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred able young men from those living in Gibeah. 16Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.</div><div class="p"> 17Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fit for battle.</div><div class="p"> 18The Israelites went up to Bethel#20:18 Or to the house of God; also in verse 26 and inquired of God. They said, &#8220;Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Benjamites?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The Lord replied, &#8220;Judah shall go first.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah. 20The Israelites went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah. 21The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day. 22But the Israelites encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day. 23The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and they inquired of the Lord. They said, &#8220;Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The Lord answered, &#8220;Go up against them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. 25This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.</div><div class="p"> 26Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. 27And the Israelites inquired of the Lord. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, 28with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering before it.) They asked, &#8220;Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites, or not?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The Lord responded, &#8220;Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah. 30They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before. 31The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads&#8212;the one leading to Bethel and the other to Gibeah. 32While the Benjamites were saying, &#8220;We are defeating them as before,&#8221; the Israelites were saying, &#8220;Let&#8217;s retreat and draw them away from the city to the roads.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of its place on the west#20:33 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. of Gibeah.#20:33 Hebrew Geba, a variant of Gibeah 34Then ten thousand of Israel&#8217;s able young men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was. 35The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. 36Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten.</div><div class="p">Now the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush they had set near Gibeah. 37Those who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword. 38The Israelites had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 39and then the Israelites would counterattack.</div><div class="p">The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites (about thirty), and they said, &#8220;We are defeating them as in the first battle.&#8221; 40But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the whole city going up in smoke. 41Then the Israelites counterattacked, and the Benjamites were terrified, because they realized that disaster had come on them. 42So they fled before the Israelites in the direction of the wilderness, but they could not escape the battle. And the Israelites who came out of the towns cut them down there. 43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily#20:43 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. 44Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters. 45As they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Benjamites as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more.</div><div class="p"> 46On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. 47But six hundred of them turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. 48The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch21" data-usfm="JDG.21">
 <div class="label">21</div><div class="s1">Wives for the Benjamites</div><div class="p"> 1The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: &#8220;Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2The people went to Bethel,#21:2 Or to the house of God where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. 3&#8220;Lord, God of Israel,&#8221; they cried, &#8220;why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.</div><div class="p"> 5Then the Israelites asked, &#8220;Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the Lord?&#8221; For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah was to be put to death.</div><div class="p"> 6Now the Israelites grieved for the tribe of Benjamin, their fellow Israelites. &#8220;Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,&#8221; they said. 7&#8220;How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?&#8221; 8Then they asked, &#8220;Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?&#8221; They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. 9For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.</div><div class="p"> 10So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. 11&#8220;This is what you are to do,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.&#8221; 12They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.</div><div class="p"> 13Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon. 14So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.</div><div class="p"> 15The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. 16And the elders of the assembly said, &#8220;With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? 17The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,&#8221; they said, &#8220;so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. 18We can&#8217;t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: &#8216;Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.&#8217; 19But look, there is the annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh, which lies north of Bethel, east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, &#8220;Go and hide in the vineyards 21and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. 22When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, &#8216;Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.</div><div class="p"> 24At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.</div><div class="p"> 25In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.</div>
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 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons</div><div class="p"> 1In the days when the judges ruled,#1:1 Traditionally judged there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2The man&#8217;s name was Elimelek, his wife&#8217;s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.</div><div class="p"> 3Now Elimelek, Naomi&#8217;s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.</div><div class="s1">Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem</div><div class="p"> 6When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.</div><div class="p"> 8Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, &#8220;Go back, each of you, to your mother&#8217;s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10and said to her, &#8220;We will go back with you to your people.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11But Naomi said, &#8220;Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me&#8212;even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons&#8212; 13would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord&#8217;s hand has turned against me!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;Look,&#8221; said Naomi, &#8220;your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16But Ruth replied, &#8220;Don&#8217;t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.&#8221; 18When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.</div><div class="p"> 19So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, &#8220;Can this be Naomi?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;Don&#8217;t call me Naomi,#1:20 Naomi means pleasant.&#8221; she told them. &#8220;Call me Mara,#1:20 Mara means bitter. because the Almighty#1:20 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21 has made my life very bitter. 21I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted#1:21 Or has testified against me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.</div>
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 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field</div><div class="p"> 1Now Naomi had a relative on her husband&#8217;s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.</div><div class="p"> 2And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, &#8220;Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Naomi said to her, &#8220;Go ahead, my daughter.&#8221; 3So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.</div><div class="p"> 4Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, &#8220;The Lord be with you!&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;The Lord bless you!&#8221; they answered.</div><div class="p"> 5Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, &#8220;Who does that young woman belong to?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6The overseer replied, &#8220;She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7She said, &#8216;Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.&#8217; She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8So Boaz said to Ruth, &#8220;My daughter, listen to me. Don&#8217;t go and glean in another field and don&#8217;t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, &#8220;Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me&#8212;a foreigner?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Boaz replied, &#8220;I&#8217;ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband&#8212;how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,&#8221; she said. &#8220;You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant&#8212;though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14At mealtime Boaz said to her, &#8220;Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.&#8221;</div><div class="p">When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, &#8220;Let her gather among the sheaves and don&#8217;t reprimand her. 16Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don&#8217;t rebuke her.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.#2:17 That is, probably about 30 pounds or about 13 kilograms 18She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.</div><div class="p"> 19Her mother-in-law asked her, &#8220;Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. &#8220;The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,&#8221; she said.</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;The Lord bless him!&#8221; Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. &#8220;He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.&#8221; She added, &#8220;That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.#2:20 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55).&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21Then Ruth the Moabite said, &#8220;He even said to me, &#8216;Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, &#8220;It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else&#8217;s field you might be harmed.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.</div>
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 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor</div><div class="p"> 1One day Ruth&#8217;s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, &#8220;My daughter, I must find a home#3:1 Hebrew find rest (see 1:9). for you, where you will be well provided for. 2Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don&#8217;t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;I will do whatever you say,&#8221; Ruth answered. 6So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.</div><div class="p"> 7When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned&#8212;and there was a woman lying at his feet!</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Who are you?&#8221; he asked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;I am your servant Ruth,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer#3:9 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55); also in verses 12 and 13. of our family.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;The Lord bless you, my daughter,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11And now, my daughter, don&#8217;t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, &#8220;No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15He also said, &#8220;Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.&#8221; When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he#3:15 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac she went back to town.</div><div class="p"> 16When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, &#8220;How did it go, my daughter?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17and added, &#8220;He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, &#8216;Don&#8217;t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Then Naomi said, &#8220;Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.&#8221;</div>
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 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Boaz Marries Ruth</div><div class="p"> 1Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer#4:1 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55); also in verses 3, 6, 8 and 14. he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, &#8220;Come over here, my friend, and sit down.&#8221; So he went over and sat down.</div><div class="p"> 2Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, &#8220;Sit here,&#8221; and they did so. 3Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, &#8220;Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. 4I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you#4:4 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts he will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I will redeem it,&#8221; he said.</div><div class="p"> 5Then Boaz said, &#8220;On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the#4:5 Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew (see also Septuagint) Naomi and from Ruth the Moabite, you acquire the dead man&#8217;s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6At this, the guardian-redeemer said, &#8220;Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)</div><div class="p"> 8So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, &#8220;Buy it yourself.&#8221; And he removed his sandal.</div><div class="p"> 9Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, &#8220;Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon&#8217;s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, &#8220;We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Naomi Gains a Son</div><div class="p"> 13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14The women said to Naomi: &#8220;Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17The women living there said, &#8220;Naomi has a son!&#8221; And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.</div><div class="s1">The Genealogy of David</div><div class="p"> 18This, then, is the family line of Perez:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="li1">Perez was the father of Hezron,</div><div class="li1"> 19Hezron the father of Ram,</div><div class="li1">Ram the father of Amminadab,</div><div class="li1"> 20Amminadab the father of Nahshon,</div><div class="li1">Nahshon the father of Salmon,#4:20 A few Hebrew manuscripts, some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate (see also verse 21 and Septuagint of 1 Chron. 2:11); most Hebrew manuscripts Salma</div><div class="li1"> 21Salmon the father of Boaz,</div><div class="li1">Boaz the father of Obed,</div><div class="li1"> 22Obed the father of Jesse,</div><div class="li1">and Jesse the father of David.</div>
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 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">The Birth of Samuel</div><div class="p"> 1There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite#1:1 See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 6:26-27,33-35; or from Ramathaim Zuphim. from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.</div><div class="p"> 3Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6Because the Lord had closed Hannah&#8217;s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8Her husband Elkanah would say to her, &#8220;Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don&#8217;t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don&#8217;t I mean more to you than ten sons?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord&#8217;s house. 10In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11And she made a vow, saying, &#8220;Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant&#8217;s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14and said to her, &#8220;How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;Not so, my lord,&#8221; Hannah replied, &#8220;I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Eli answered, &#8220;Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18She said, &#8220;May your servant find favor in your eyes.&#8221; Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.</div><div class="p"> 19Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,#1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard by God. saying, &#8220;Because I asked the Lord for him.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Hannah Dedicates Samuel</div><div class="p"> 21When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, &#8220;After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.&#8221;#1:22 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls always. I have dedicated him as a Nazirite&#8212;all the days of his life.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23&#8220;Do what seems best to you,&#8221; her husband Elkanah told her. &#8220;Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his#1:23 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac your word.&#8221; So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.</div><div class="p"> 24After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull,#1:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac; Masoretic Text with three bulls an ephah#1:24 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26and she said to him, &#8220;Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.&#8221; And he worshiped the Lord there.</div>
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 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="1SA.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">Hannah&#8217;s Prayer</div><div class="p"> 1Then Hannah prayed and said:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;My heart rejoices in the Lord;</div><div class="q2">in the Lord my horn#2:1 Horn here symbolizes strength; also in verse 10. is lifted high.</div><div class="q1">My mouth boasts over my enemies,</div><div class="q2">for I delight in your deliverance.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 2&#8220;There is no one holy like the Lord;</div><div class="q2">there is no one besides you;</div><div class="q2">there is no Rock like our God.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 3&#8220;Do not keep talking so proudly</div><div class="q2">or let your mouth speak such arrogance,</div><div class="q1">for the Lord is a God who knows,</div><div class="q2">and by him deeds are weighed.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 4&#8220;The bows of the warriors are broken,</div><div class="q2">but those who stumbled are armed with strength.</div><div class="q1"> 5Those who were full hire themselves out for food,</div><div class="q2">but those who were hungry are hungry no more.</div><div class="q1">She who was barren has borne seven children,</div><div class="q2">but she who has had many sons pines away.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 6&#8220;The Lord brings death and makes alive;</div><div class="q2">he brings down to the grave and raises up.</div><div class="q1"> 7The Lord sends poverty and wealth;</div><div class="q2">he humbles and he exalts.</div><div class="q1"> 8He raises the poor from the dust</div><div class="q2">and lifts the needy from the ash heap;</div><div class="q1">he seats them with princes</div><div class="q2">and has them inherit a throne of honor.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;For the foundations of the earth are the Lord&#8217;s;</div><div class="q2">on them he has set the world.</div><div class="q1"> 9He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,</div><div class="q2">but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;It is not by strength that one prevails;</div><div class="q2"> 10those who oppose the Lord will be broken.</div><div class="q1">The Most High will thunder from heaven;</div><div class="q2">the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;He will give strength to his king</div><div class="q2">and exalt the horn of his anointed.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.</div><div class="s1">Eli&#8217;s Wicked Sons</div><div class="p"> 12Eli&#8217;s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest&#8217;s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15But even before the fat was burned, the priest&#8217;s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, &#8220;Give the priest some meat to roast; he won&#8217;t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16If the person said to him, &#8220;Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,&#8221; the servant would answer, &#8220;No, hand it over now; if you don&#8217;t, I&#8217;ll take it by force.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord&#8217;s sight, for they#2:17 Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint; Masoretic Text people were treating the Lord&#8217;s offering with contempt.</div><div class="p"> 18But Samuel was ministering before the Lord&#8212;a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, &#8220;May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to#2:20 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text and asked from the Lord.&#8221; Then they would go home. 21And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 22Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23So he said to them, &#8220;Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. 24No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord&#8217;s people is not good. 25If one person sins against another, God#2:25 Or the judges may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?&#8221; His sons, however, did not listen to their father&#8217;s rebuke, for it was the Lord&#8217;s will to put them to death.</div><div class="p"> 26And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.</div><div class="s1">Prophecy Against the House of Eli</div><div class="p"> 27Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, &#8220;This is what the Lord says: &#8216;Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor&#8217;s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? 28I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor&#8217;s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites. 29Why do you#2:29 The Hebrew is plural. scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 30&#8220;Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: &#8216;I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.&#8217; But now the Lord declares: &#8216;Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, 32and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. 33Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.</div><div class="p"> 34&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you&#8212;they will both die on the same day. 35I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, &#8220;Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.&#8221;&#8198;&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="1SA.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">The Lord Calls Samuel</div><div class="p"> 1The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.</div><div class="p"> 2One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4Then the Lord called Samuel.</div><div class="p">Samuel answered, &#8220;Here I am.&#8221; 5And he ran to Eli and said, &#8220;Here I am; you called me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But Eli said, &#8220;I did not call; go back and lie down.&#8221; So he went and lay down.</div><div class="p"> 6Again the Lord called, &#8220;Samuel!&#8221; And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, &#8220;Here I am; you called me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;My son,&#8221; Eli said, &#8220;I did not call; go back and lie down.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.</div><div class="p"> 8A third time the Lord called, &#8220;Samuel!&#8221; And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, &#8220;Here I am; you called me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9So Eli told Samuel, &#8220;Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, &#8216;Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; So Samuel went and lay down in his place.</div><div class="p"> 10The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, &#8220;Samuel! Samuel!&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then Samuel said, &#8220;Speak, for your servant is listening.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11And the Lord said to Samuel: &#8220;See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family&#8212;from beginning to end. 13For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God,#3:13 An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition (see also Septuagint); Masoretic Text sons made themselves contemptible and he failed to restrain them. 14Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, &#8216;The guilt of Eli&#8217;s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16but Eli called him and said, &#8220;Samuel, my son.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samuel answered, &#8220;Here I am.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;What was it he said to you?&#8221; Eli asked. &#8220;Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.&#8221; 18So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, &#8220;He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel&#8217;s words fall to the ground. 20And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="1SA.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="p"> 1And Samuel&#8217;s word came to all Israel.</div><div class="s1">The Philistines Capture the Ark</div><div class="p">Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. 2The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. 3When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, &#8220;Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord&#8217;s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli&#8217;s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.</div><div class="p"> 5When the ark of the Lord&#8217;s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. 6Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, &#8220;What&#8217;s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?&#8221;</div><div class="p">When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, 7the Philistines were afraid. &#8220;A god has#4:7 Or &#8220;Gods have (see Septuagint) come into the camp,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. 8We&#8217;re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11The ark of God was captured, and Eli&#8217;s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.</div><div class="s1">Death of Eli</div><div class="p"> 12That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. 13When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.</div><div class="p"> 14Eli heard the outcry and asked, &#8220;What is the meaning of this uproar?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The man hurried over to Eli, 15who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see. 16He told Eli, &#8220;I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Eli asked, &#8220;What happened, my son?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17The man who brought the news replied, &#8220;Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led#4:18 Traditionally judged Israel forty years.</div><div class="p"> 19His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 20As she was dying, the women attending her said, &#8220;Don&#8217;t despair; you have given birth to a son.&#8221; But she did not respond or pay any attention.</div><div class="p"> 21She named the boy Ichabod,#4:21 Ichabod means no glory. saying, &#8220;The Glory has departed from Israel&#8221;&#8212;because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22She said, &#8220;The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="1SA.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">The Ark in Ashdod and Ekron</div><div class="p"> 1After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2Then they carried the ark into Dagon&#8217;s temple and set it beside Dagon. 3When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon&#8217;s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.</div><div class="p"> 6The Lord&#8217;s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors.#5:6 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate tumors. And rats appeared in their land, and there was death and destruction throughout the city 7When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, &#8220;The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.&#8221; 8So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, &#8220;What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?&#8221;</div><div class="p">They answered, &#8220;Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.&#8221; So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 9But after they had moved it, the Lord&#8217;s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.#5:9 Or with tumors in the groin (see Septuagint) 10So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.</div><div class="p">As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, &#8220;They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.&#8221; 11So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, &#8220;Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it#5:11 Or he will kill us and our people.&#8221; For death had filled the city with panic; God&#8217;s hand was very heavy on it. 12Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="1SA.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">The Ark Returned to Israel</div><div class="p"> 1When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, 2the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, &#8220;What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3They answered, &#8220;If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift; by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4The Philistines asked, &#8220;What guilt offering should we send to him?&#8221;</div><div class="p">They replied, &#8220;Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. 5Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and give glory to Israel&#8217;s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. 6Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel&#8217;s god dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?</div><div class="p"> 7&#8220;Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. 8Take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, 9but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh, then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves. 11They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart and along with it the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumors. 12Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.</div><div class="p"> 13Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. 14The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15The Levites took down the ark of the Lord, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. 16The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron.</div><div class="p"> 17These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the Lord&#8212;one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. 18And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers&#8212;the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock on which the Levites set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.</div><div class="p"> 19But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy#6:19 A few Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint 50,070 of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. 20And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, &#8220;Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, &#8220;The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="1SA.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="nb"> 1So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. They brought it to Abinadab&#8217;s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. 2The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time&#8212;twenty years in all.</div><div class="s1">Samuel Subdues the Philistines at Mizpah</div><div class="p">Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. 3So Samuel said to all the Israelites, &#8220;If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.&#8221; 4So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.</div><div class="p"> 5Then Samuel said, &#8220;Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.&#8221; 6When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, &#8220;We have sinned against the Lord.&#8221; Now Samuel was serving as leader#7:6 Traditionally judge; also in verse 15 of Israel at Mizpah.</div><div class="p"> 7When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8They said to Samuel, &#8220;Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.&#8221; 9Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel&#8217;s behalf, and the Lord answered him.</div><div class="p"> 10While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.</div><div class="p"> 12Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer,#7:12 Ebenezer means stone of help. saying, &#8220;Thus far the Lord has helped us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13So the Philistines were subdued and they stopped invading Israel&#8217;s territory. Throughout Samuel&#8217;s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. 14The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to Israel, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.</div><div class="p"> 15Samuel continued as Israel&#8217;s leader all the days of his life. 16From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. 17But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also held court for Israel. And he built an altar there to the Lord.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="1SA.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Israel Asks for a King</div><div class="p"> 1When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel&#8217;s leaders.#8:1 Traditionally judges 2The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.</div><div class="p"> 4So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5They said to him, &#8220;You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead#8:5 Traditionally judge; also in verses 6 and 20 us, such as all the other nations have.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6But when they said, &#8220;Give us a king to lead us,&#8221; this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7And the Lord told him: &#8220;Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11He said, &#8220;This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle#8:16 Septuagint; Hebrew young men and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19But the people refused to listen to Samuel. &#8220;No!&#8221; they said. &#8220;We want a king over us. 20Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22The Lord answered, &#8220;Listen to them and give them a king.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then Samuel said to the Israelites, &#8220;Everyone go back to your own town.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="1SA.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1">Samuel Anoints Saul</div><div class="p"> 1There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. 2Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.</div><div class="p"> 3Now the donkeys belonging to Saul&#8217;s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, &#8220;Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.&#8221; 4So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them.</div><div class="p"> 5When they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, &#8220;Come, let&#8217;s go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6But the servant replied, &#8220;Look, in this town there is a man of God; he is highly respected, and everything he says comes true. Let&#8217;s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Saul said to his servant, &#8220;If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8The servant answered him again. &#8220;Look,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I have a quarter of a shekel#9:8 That is, about 1/10 ounce or about 3 grams of silver. I will give it to the man of God so that he will tell us what way to take.&#8221; 9(Formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, &#8220;Come, let us go to the seer,&#8221; because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.)</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;Good,&#8221; Saul said to his servant. &#8220;Come, let&#8217;s go.&#8221; So they set out for the town where the man of God was.</div><div class="p"> 11As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water, and they asked them, &#8220;Is the seer here?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;He is,&#8221; they answered. &#8220;He&#8217;s ahead of you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place. 13As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14They went up to the town, and as they were entering it, there was Samuel, coming toward them on his way up to the high place.</div><div class="p"> 15Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: 16&#8220;About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, &#8220;This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and asked, &#8220;Would you please tell me where the seer&#8217;s house is?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;I am the seer,&#8221; Samuel replied. &#8220;Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and in the morning I will send you on your way and will tell you all that is in your heart. 20As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21Saul answered, &#8220;But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22Then Samuel brought Saul and his servant into the hall and seated them at the head of those who were invited&#8212;about thirty in number. 23Samuel said to the cook, &#8220;Bring the piece of meat I gave you, the one I told you to lay aside.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24So the cook took up the thigh with what was on it and set it in front of Saul. Samuel said, &#8220;Here is what has been kept for you. Eat, because it was set aside for you for this occasion from the time I said, &#8216;I have invited guests.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; And Saul dined with Samuel that day.</div><div class="p"> 25After they came down from the high place to the town, Samuel talked with Saul on the roof of his house. 26They rose about daybreak, and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, &#8220;Get ready, and I will send you on your way.&#8221; When Saul got ready, he and Samuel went outside together. 27As they were going down to the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, &#8220;Tell the servant to go on ahead of us&#8221;&#8212;and the servant did so&#8212;&#8220;but you stay here for a while, so that I may give you a message from God.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="1SA.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="p"> 1Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul&#8217;s head and kissed him, saying, &#8220;Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?#10:1 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate over his people Israel? You will reign over the Lord&#8217;s people and save them from the power of their enemies round about. And this will be a sign to you that the Lord has anointed you ruler over his inheritance: 2When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel&#8217;s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, &#8216;The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, &#8220;What shall I do about my son?&#8221;&#8198;&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 3&#8220;Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to worship God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. 4They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. 6The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. 7Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Saul Made King</div><div class="p"> 9As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul&#8217;s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. 11When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, &#8220;What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12A man who lived there answered, &#8220;And who is their father?&#8221; So it became a saying: &#8220;Is Saul also among the prophets?&#8221; 13After Saul stopped prophesying, he went to the high place.</div><div class="p"> 14Now Saul&#8217;s uncle asked him and his servant, &#8220;Where have you been?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Looking for the donkeys,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Saul&#8217;s uncle said, &#8220;Tell me what Samuel said to you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Saul replied, &#8220;He assured us that the donkeys had been found.&#8221; But he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.</div><div class="p"> 17Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah 18and said to them, &#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.&#8217; 19But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, &#8216;No, appoint a king over us.&#8217; So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Matri&#8217;s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. 22So they inquired further of the Lord, &#8220;Has the man come here yet?&#8221;</div><div class="p">And the Lord said, &#8220;Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. 24Samuel said to all the people, &#8220;Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then the people shouted, &#8220;Long live the king!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes.</div><div class="p"> 26Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. 27But some scoundrels said, &#8220;How can this fellow save us?&#8221; They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="1SA.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">Saul Rescues the City of Jabesh</div><div class="p"> 1Nahash#11:1 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls gifts. Now Nahash king of the Ammonites oppressed the Gadites and Reubenites severely. He gouged out all their right eyes and struck terror and dread in Israel. Not a man remained among the Israelites beyond the Jordan whose right eye was not gouged out by Nahash king of the Ammonites, except that seven thousand men fled from the Ammonites and entered Jabesh Gilead. About a month later, 1 Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, &#8220;Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2But Nahash the Ammonite replied, &#8220;I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3The elders of Jabesh said to him, &#8220;Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. 5Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, &#8220;What is wrong with everyone? Why are they weeping?&#8221; Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said.</div><div class="p"> 6When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. 7He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, &#8220;This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.&#8221; Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out together as one. 8When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and those of Judah thirty thousand.</div><div class="p"> 9They told the messengers who had come, &#8220;Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, &#8216;By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be rescued.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated. 10They said to the Ammonites, &#8220;Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever you like.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.</div><div class="s1">Saul Confirmed as King</div><div class="p"> 12The people then said to Samuel, &#8220;Who was it that asked, &#8216;Shall Saul reign over us?&#8217; Turn these men over to us so that we may put them to death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13But Saul said, &#8220;No one will be put to death today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Then Samuel said to the people, &#8220;Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.&#8221; 15So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the Lord. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="1SA.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">Samuel&#8217;s Farewell Speech</div><div class="p"> 1Samuel said to all Israel, &#8220;I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. 2Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. 3Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4&#8220;You have not cheated or oppressed us,&#8221; they replied. &#8220;You have not taken anything from anyone&#8217;s hand.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Samuel said to them, &#8220;The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;He is witness,&#8221; they said.</div><div class="p"> 6Then Samuel said to the people, &#8220;It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt. 7Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. 10They cried out to the Lord and said, &#8216;We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.&#8217; 11Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal,#12:11 Also called Gideon Barak,#12:11 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew Bedan Jephthah and Samuel,#12:11 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac Samson and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, &#8216;No, we want a king to rule over us&#8217;&#8212;even though the Lord your God was your king. 13Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. 14If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God&#8212;good! 15But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.</div><div class="p"> 16&#8220;Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! 17Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.</div><div class="p"> 19The people all said to Samuel, &#8220;Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;Do not be afraid,&#8221; Samuel replied. &#8220;You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. 23As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. 24But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. 25Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="1SA.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">Samuel Rebukes Saul</div><div class="p"> 1Saul was thirty#13:1 A few late manuscripts of the Septuagint; Hebrew does not have thirty. years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-#13:1 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Acts 13:21); Masoretic Text does not have forty-. two years.</div><div class="p"> 2Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.</div><div class="p"> 3Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, &#8220;Let the Hebrews hear!&#8221; 4So all Israel heard the news: &#8220;Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.&#8221; And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.</div><div class="p"> 5The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand#13:5 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew thirty thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. 6When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.</div><div class="p">Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. 8He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul&#8217;s men began to scatter. 9So he said, &#8220;Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.&#8221; And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.</div><div class="p"> 11&#8220;What have you done?&#8221; asked Samuel.</div><div class="p">Saul replied, &#8220;When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12I thought, &#8216;Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord&#8217;s favor.&#8217; So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;You have done a foolish thing,&#8221; Samuel said. &#8220;You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord&#8217;s command.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Then Samuel left Gilgal#13:15 Hebrew; Septuagint Gilgal and went his way; the rest of the people went after Saul to meet the army, and they went out of Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin, and Saul counted the men who were with him. They numbered about six hundred.</div><div class="s1">Israel Without Weapons</div><div class="p"> 16Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah#13:16 Two Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts Geba, a variant of Gibeah in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Mikmash. 17Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One turned toward Ophrah in the vicinity of Shual, 18another toward Beth Horon, and the third toward the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboyim facing the wilderness.</div><div class="p"> 19Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, &#8220;Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!&#8221; 20So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles#13:20 Septuagint; Hebrew plow points sharpened. 21The price was two-thirds of a shekel#13:21 That is, about 1/4 ounce or about 8 grams for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel#13:21 That is, about 1/8 ounce or about 4 grams for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.</div><div class="p"> 22So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.</div><div class="s1">Jonathan Attacks the Philistines</div><div class="p"> 23Now a detachment of Philistines had gone out to the pass at Mikmash.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="1SA.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">The Lord Rejects Saul as King</div><div class="p"> 1Samuel said to Saul, &#8220;I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2This is what the Lord Almighty says: &#8216;I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy#15:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20 and 21. all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim&#8212;two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6Then he said to the Kenites, &#8220;Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.&#8221; So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.</div><div class="p"> 7Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves#15:9 Or the grown bulls; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. and lambs&#8212;everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.</div><div class="p"> 10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11&#8220;I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.&#8221; Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.</div><div class="p"> 12Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, &#8220;Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13When Samuel reached him, Saul said, &#8220;The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord&#8217;s instructions.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14But Samuel said, &#8220;What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Saul answered, &#8220;The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16&#8220;Enough!&#8221; Samuel said to Saul. &#8220;Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Tell me,&#8221; Saul replied.</div><div class="p"> 17Samuel said, &#8220;Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And he sent you on a mission, saying, &#8216;Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.&#8217; 19Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;But I did obey the Lord,&#8221; Saul said. &#8220;I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22But Samuel replied:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices</div><div class="q2">as much as in obeying the Lord?</div><div class="q1">To obey is better than sacrifice,</div><div class="q2">and to heed is better than the fat of rams.</div><div class="q1"> 23For rebellion is like the sin of divination,</div><div class="q2">and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.</div><div class="q1">Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,</div><div class="q2">he has rejected you as king.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24Then Saul said to Samuel, &#8220;I have sinned. I violated the Lord&#8217;s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26But Samuel said to him, &#8220;I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28Samuel said to him, &#8220;The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors&#8212;to one better than you. 29He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Saul replied, &#8220;I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.&#8221; 31So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 32Then Samuel said, &#8220;Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Agag came to him in chains.#15:32 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. And he thought, &#8220;Surely the bitterness of death is past.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33But Samuel said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;As your sword has made women childless,</div><div class="q2">so will your mother be childless among women.&#8221;</div><div class="m">And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.</div><div class="p"> 34Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="1SA.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Samuel Anoints David</div><div class="p"> 1The Lord said to Samuel, &#8220;How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2But Samuel said, &#8220;How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">The Lord said, &#8220;Take a heifer with you and say, &#8216;I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.&#8217; 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, &#8220;Do you come in peace?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Samuel replied, &#8220;Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.&#8221; Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.</div><div class="p"> 6When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, &#8220;Surely the Lord&#8217;s anointed stands here before the Lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7But the Lord said to Samuel, &#8220;Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, &#8220;The Lord has not chosen this one either.&#8221; 9Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, &#8220;Nor has the Lord chosen this one.&#8221; 10Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, &#8220;The Lord has not chosen these.&#8221; 11So he asked Jesse, &#8220;Are these all the sons you have?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;There is still the youngest,&#8221; Jesse answered. &#8220;He is tending the sheep.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Samuel said, &#8220;Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.</div><div class="p">Then the Lord said, &#8220;Rise and anoint him; this is the one.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.</div><div class="s1">David in Saul&#8217;s Service</div><div class="p"> 14Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil#16:14 Or and a harmful; similarly in verses 15, 16 and 23 spirit from the Lord tormented him.</div><div class="p"> 15Saul&#8217;s attendants said to him, &#8220;See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17So Saul said to his attendants, &#8220;Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18One of the servants answered, &#8220;I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, &#8220;Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.&#8221; 20So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.</div><div class="p"> 21David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. 22Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, &#8220;Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.</div>
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 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch18" data-usfm="1SA.18">
 <div class="label">18</div><div class="s1">Saul&#8217;s Growing Fear of David</div><div class="p"> 1After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.</div><div class="p"> 5Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul&#8217;s officers as well.</div><div class="p"> 6When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. 7As they danced, they sang:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Saul has slain his thousands,</div><div class="q2">and David his tens of thousands.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. &#8220;They have credited David with tens of thousands,&#8221; he thought, &#8220;but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?&#8221; 9And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.</div><div class="p"> 10The next day an evil#18:10 Or a harmful spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11and he hurled it, saying to himself, &#8220;I&#8217;ll pin David to the wall.&#8221; But David eluded him twice.</div><div class="p"> 12Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. 13So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. 14In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. 15When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. 16But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.</div><div class="p"> 17Saul said to David, &#8220;Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.&#8221; For Saul said to himself, &#8220;I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18But David said to Saul, &#8220;Who am I, and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king&#8217;s son-in-law?&#8221; 19So#18:19 Or However, when the time came for Merab, Saul&#8217;s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.</div><div class="p"> 20Now Saul&#8217;s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. 21&#8220;I will give her to him,&#8221; he thought, &#8220;so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.&#8221; So Saul said to David, &#8220;Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22Then Saul ordered his attendants: &#8220;Speak to David privately and say, &#8216;Look, the king likes you, and his attendants all love you; now become his son-in-law.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23They repeated these words to David. But David said, &#8220;Do you think it is a small matter to become the king&#8217;s son-in-law? I&#8217;m only a poor man and little known.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24When Saul&#8217;s servants told him what David had said, 25Saul replied, &#8220;Say to David, &#8216;The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; Saul&#8217;s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.</div><div class="p"> 26When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king&#8217;s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, 27David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king&#8217;s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.</div><div class="p"> 28When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, 29Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.</div><div class="p"> 30The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul&#8217;s officers, and his name became well known.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch19" data-usfm="1SA.19">
 <div class="label">19</div><div class="s1">Saul Tries to Kill David</div><div class="p"> 1Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2and warned him, &#8220;My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. 3I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I&#8217;ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, &#8220;Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. 5He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: &#8220;As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.</div><div class="p"> 8Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.</div><div class="p"> 9But an evil#19:9 Or But a harmful spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.</div><div class="p"> 11Saul sent men to David&#8217;s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David&#8217;s wife, warned him, &#8220;If you don&#8217;t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you&#8217;ll be killed.&#8221; 12So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats&#8217; hair at the head.</div><div class="p"> 14When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, &#8220;He is ill.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, &#8220;Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.&#8221; 16But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats&#8217; hair.</div><div class="p"> 17Saul said to Michal, &#8220;Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Michal told him, &#8220;He said to me, &#8216;Let me get away. Why should I kill you?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19Word came to Saul: &#8220;David is in Naioth at Ramah&#8221;; 20so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul&#8217;s men, and they also prophesied. 21Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. 22Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, &#8220;Where are Samuel and David?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Over in Naioth at Ramah,&#8221; they said.</div><div class="p"> 23So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel&#8217;s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, &#8220;Is Saul also among the prophets?&#8221;</div>
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 <div class="label">20</div><div class="s1">David and Jonathan</div><div class="p"> 1Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, &#8220;What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2&#8220;Never!&#8221; Jonathan replied. &#8220;You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn&#8217;t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn&#8217;t so!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3But David took an oath and said, &#8220;Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, &#8216;Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.&#8217; Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4Jonathan said to David, &#8220;Whatever you want me to do, I&#8217;ll do for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5So David said, &#8220;Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6If your father misses me at all, tell him, &#8216;David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.&#8217; 7If he says, &#8216;Very well,&#8217; then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Never!&#8221; Jonathan said. &#8220;If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn&#8217;t I tell you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10David asked, &#8220;Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11&#8220;Come,&#8221; Jonathan said, &#8220;let&#8217;s go out into the field.&#8221; So they went there together.</div><div class="p"> 12Then Jonathan said to David, &#8220;I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord&#8217;s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family&#8212;not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David&#8217;s enemies from the face of the earth.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, &#8220;May the Lord call David&#8217;s enemies to account.&#8221; 17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.</div><div class="p"> 18Then Jonathan said to David, &#8220;Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. 20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. 21Then I will send a boy and say, &#8216;Go, find the arrows.&#8217; If I say to him, &#8216;Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,&#8217; then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. 22But if I say to the boy, &#8216;Look, the arrows are beyond you,&#8217; then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23And about the matter you and I discussed&#8212;remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. 25He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,#20:25 Septuagint; Hebrew wall. Jonathan arose and Abner sat next to Saul, but David&#8217;s place was empty. 26Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, &#8220;Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean&#8212;surely he is unclean.&#8221; 27But the next day, the second day of the month, David&#8217;s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, &#8220;Why hasn&#8217;t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 28Jonathan answered, &#8220;David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29He said, &#8216;Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.&#8217; That is why he has not come to the king&#8217;s table.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Saul&#8217;s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, &#8220;You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don&#8217;t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32&#8220;Why should he be put to death? What has he done?&#8221; Jonathan asked his father. 33But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.</div><div class="p"> 34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father&#8217;s shameful treatment of David.</div><div class="p"> 35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36and he said to the boy, &#8220;Run and find the arrows I shoot.&#8221; As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy came to the place where Jonathan&#8217;s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t the arrow beyond you?&#8221; 38Then he shouted, &#8220;Hurry! Go quickly! Don&#8217;t stop!&#8221; The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39(The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, &#8220;Go, carry them back to town.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 41After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together&#8212;but David wept the most.</div><div class="p"> 42Jonathan said to David, &#8220;Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, &#8216;The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.#20:42 In Hebrew texts this sentence (20:42b) is numbered 21:1.</div>
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 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch21" data-usfm="1SA.21">
 <div class="label">21</div><div class="s1">David at Nob</div><div class="p"> # In Hebrew texts 21:1-15 is numbered 21:2-16. 1David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, &#8220;Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2David answered Ahimelek the priest, &#8220;The king sent me on a mission and said to me, &#8216;No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.&#8217; As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4But the priest answered David, &#8220;I don&#8217;t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here&#8212;provided the men have kept themselves from women.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5David replied, &#8220;Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever#21:5 Or from us in the past few days since I set out. The men&#8217;s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!&#8221; 6So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.</div><div class="p"> 7Now one of Saul&#8217;s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul&#8217;s chief shepherd.</div><div class="p"> 8David asked Ahimelek, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven&#8217;t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king&#8217;s mission was urgent.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9The priest replied, &#8220;The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.&#8221;</div><div class="p">David said, &#8220;There is none like it; give it to me.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">David at Gath</div><div class="p"> 10That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11But the servants of Achish said to him, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t this David, the king of the land? Isn&#8217;t he the one they sing about in their dances:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Saul has slain his thousands,</div><div class="q2">and David his tens of thousands&#8217;?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.</div><div class="p"> 14Achish said to his servants, &#8220;Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? 15Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1SA">
 <div class="chapter ch22" data-usfm="1SA.22">
 <div class="label">22</div><div class="s1">David at Adullam and Mizpah</div><div class="p"> 1David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father&#8217;s household heard about it, they went down to him there. 2All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.</div><div class="p"> 3From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, &#8220;Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?&#8221; 4So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.</div><div class="p"> 5But the prophet Gad said to David, &#8220;Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.&#8221; So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.</div><div class="s1">Saul Kills the Priests of Nob</div><div class="p"> 6Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side. 7He said to them, &#8220;Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? 8Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul&#8217;s officials, said, &#8220;I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelek son of Ahitub at Nob. 10Ahimelek inquired of the Lord for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelek son of Ahitub and all the men of his family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. 12Saul said, &#8220;Listen now, son of Ahitub.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yes, my lord,&#8221; he answered.</div><div class="p"> 13Saul said to him, &#8220;Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Ahimelek answered the king, &#8220;Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king&#8217;s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? 15Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father&#8217;s family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16But the king said, &#8220;You will surely die, Ahimelek, you and your whole family.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Then the king ordered the guards at his side: &#8220;Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But the king&#8217;s officials were unwilling to raise a hand to strike the priests of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 18The king then ordered Doeg, &#8220;You turn and strike down the priests.&#8221; So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. 19He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.</div><div class="p"> 20But one son of Ahimelek son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to join David. 21He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. 22Then David said to Abiathar, &#8220;That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your whole family. 23Stay with me; don&#8217;t be afraid. The man who wants to kill you is trying to kill me too. You will be safe with me.&#8221;</div>
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