Wandering: Jacob's Story of Un/Fortunate Events

Help and Hope in a Divided World

Esther: Daring Faith for Such a Time as This

How to Know God's Will and Follow It

Overflowing: Living Abundantly in a Broken Culture

Fear or Hope? The Most Important Choice You Make Every Day

Songs of Advent

Reckless Faith

The Kingdom Driven Author

Reading With the People of God #7 Commitment

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

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

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 <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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New International Version

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 <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>
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 <div class="p">1All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, &#8220;We are your own flesh and blood. 2In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, &#8216;You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.</div><div class="p"> 4David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. 5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.</div><div class="s1">David Conquers Jerusalem</div><div class="p"> 6The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, &#8220;You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.&#8221; They thought, &#8220;David cannot get in here.&#8221; 7Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion&#8212;which is the City of David.</div><div class="p"> 8On that day David had said, &#8220;Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those &#8216;lame and blind&#8217; who are David&#8217;s enemies.#5:8 Or are hated by David&#8221; That is why they say, &#8220;The &#8216;blind and lame&#8217; will not enter the palace.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces#5:9 Or the Millo inward. 10And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.</div><div class="p"> 11Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. 12Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.</div><div class="p"> </div>
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 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">David and Bathsheba</div><div class="p"> 1In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king&#8217;s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.</div><div class="p"> 2One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, &#8220;She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.&#8221; 4Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, &#8220;I am pregnant.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6So David sent this word to Joab: &#8220;Send me Uriah the Hittite.&#8221; And Joab sent him to David. 7When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8Then David said to Uriah, &#8220;Go down to your house and wash your feet.&#8221; So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master&#8217;s servants and did not go down to his house.</div><div class="p"> 10David was told, &#8220;Uriah did not go home.&#8221; So he asked Uriah, &#8220;Haven&#8217;t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn&#8217;t you go home?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Uriah said to David, &#8220;The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,#11:11 Or staying at Sukkoth and my commander Joab and my lord&#8217;s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then David said to him, &#8220;Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.&#8221; So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13At David&#8217;s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master&#8217;s servants; he did not go home.</div><div class="p"> 14In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15In it he wrote, &#8220;Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David&#8217;s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.</div><div class="p"> 18Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19He instructed the messenger: &#8220;When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20the king&#8217;s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, &#8216;Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn&#8217;t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth#11:21 Also known as Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon)? Didn&#8217;t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?&#8217; If he asks you this, then say to him, &#8216;Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23The messenger said to David, &#8220;The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king&#8217;s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25David told the messenger, &#8220;Say this to Joab: &#8216;Don&#8217;t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.&#8217; Say this to encourage Joab.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26When Uriah&#8217;s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.</div>
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