1 Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have set over you a king. 2Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.

3 Here I am. Bear witness against me before the Lord and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.”

4“You have not cheated us or oppressed us,” they replied, “nor have you taken anything from the hand of man.”

5 Samuel said to them, “The Lord is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.”

“He is a witness,” they replied.

6 Then Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the One who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7Now present yourselves, so that I may confront you before the Lord with all the righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers.

8 When Jacob went to Egypt, your fathers cried out to the Lord, and He sent them Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. 9But they forgot the Lord their God, and 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.

10 Then they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, that we may serve You.’

11 So the Lord sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely. 12But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’— even though the Lord your God was your king.

13 Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you requested. Behold, the Lord has placed a king over you.

14 If you fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the Lord, and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, then all will be well. 15But if you disobey the Lord and rebel against His command, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers.

16 Now, therefore, present yourselves and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the Lord by asking for a king.”

18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and on that day the Lord sent thunder and rain.

As a result, all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. 19They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.”

20“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “Even though you have committed all this evil, do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty. 22Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the Lord will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.

23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way.

24 Above all, fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. 25But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years. 2He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home.

3 Then Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. So Saul blew the ram’s horn throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”

4 And all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked an outpost of the Philistines, and now Israel has become a stench to the Philistines!” Then the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

5 Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

6 Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns. 7Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, remained at Gilgal, and all his troops were quaking in fear.

8 And Saul waited seven days for the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the troops began to desert Saul. 9So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered up the burnt offering.

10 Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

11“What have you done?” Samuel asked.

And Saul replied, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me, and that you did not come at the appointed time and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash, 12I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will descend upon me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

13“You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the Lord your God gave you; if you had, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the command of the Lord.”

15 Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin. And Saul numbered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men.

16 Now Saul and Jonathan his son and the troops with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash. 17And raiders went out of the Philistine camp in three divisions. One headed toward Ophrah in the land of Shual, 18another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness.

19 And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.” 20Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles. 21The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an axe, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad.

22 So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons.

23 And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash.

1 After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews there were trying to kill Him. 2However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near. 3So Jesus’ brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples there may see the works You are doing. 4For no one who wants to be known publicly acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.

6 Therefore Jesus told them, “Although your time is always at hand, My time has not yet come. 7The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil. 8Go up to the feast on your own. I am not going up to this feast, because My time has not yet come.”

9 Having said this, Jesus remained in Galilee. 10But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, He also went — not publicly, but in secret.

11 So the Jews were looking for Him at the feast and asking, “Where is He?”

12 Many in the crowds were whispering about Him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

But others replied, “No, He deceives the people.”

13 Yet no one would speak publicly about Him for fear of the Jews.

14 About halfway through the feast, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. 15The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man attain such learning without having studied?”

16 “My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “It comes from Him who sent Me. 17If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own. 18He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a man of truth; in Him there is no falsehood. 19Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”

20“You have a demon,” the crowd replied. “Who is trying to kill You?”

21 Jesus answered them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.) 23If a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, why are you angry with Me for making the whole man well on the Sabbath? 24Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”

25 Then some of the people of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26Yet here He is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying anything to Him. Have the rulers truly recognized that this is the Christ? 27But we know where this man is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where He is from.”

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, 29but I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me.”

30 So they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.