19:1In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. 19:2His concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father’s house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there for four months. 19:3Her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of donkeys. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 19:4His father-in-law, the young lady’s father, kept him there; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank, and stayed there. 19:5On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. The young lady’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way.” 19:6So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together. Then the young lady’s father said to the man, “Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.” 19:7The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he stayed there again. 19:8He arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady’s father said, “Please strengthen your heart and stay until the day declines”; and they both ate. 19:9When the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the young lady’s father, said to him, “Behold, now the day draws toward evening, please stay all night. Behold, the day is ending. Stay here, that your heart may be merry; and tomorrow go on your way early, that you may go home.” 19:10But the man wouldn’t stay that night, but he rose up and departed, and toward Jebus (also called Jerusalem). With him were a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine also was with him. 19:11When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Please come and let us enter into this city of the Jebusites, and stay in it.” 19:12His master said to him, “We won’t enter into the city of a foreigner that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah.” 19:13He said to his servant, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places; and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah.” 19:14So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. 19:15They went over there, to go in to stay in Gibeah. He went in, and sat down in the street of the city; for there was no one who took them into his house to stay. 19:16Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites. 19:17He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?” 19:18He said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to Yahweh’s house; and there is no one who has taken me into his house. 19:19Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your servant, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything.” 19:20The old man said, “Peace be to you; how ever let me supply all your needs. Just don’t sleep in the street.” 19:21So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank. 19:22As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!” 19:23The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, “No, my brothers, please don’t act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, don’t do this folly. 19:24Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man don’t do any such folly.” 19:25But the men wouldn’t listen to him: so the man laid hold of his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning. When the day began to dawn, they let her go. 19:26Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, until it was light. 19:27Her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and behold, the woman his concubine had fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 19:28He said to her, “Get up, and let us be going!” but no one answered. Then he took her up on the donkey; and the man rose up, and went to his place. 19:29When he had come into his house, he took a knife, and cut up his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. 19:30It was so, that all who saw it said, “Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak.”
20:1Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah. 20:2The chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword. 20:3(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wickedness happen?” 20:4The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, “I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. 20:5The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house by night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she is dead. 20:6I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. 20:7Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel.” 20:8All the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house. 20:9But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot; 20:10and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get food for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have worked in Israel.” 20:11So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. 20:12The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What wickedness is this that has happened among you? 20:13Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked fellows, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel.” But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers the children of Israel. 20:14The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. 20:15The children of Benjamin were counted on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were counted seven hundred chosen men. 20:16Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. 20:17The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were counted four hundred thousand men who drew sword. All these were men of war. 20:18The children of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God. They asked, “Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” Yahweh said, “Judah first.” 20:19The children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. 20:20The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah. 20:21The children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day destroyed twenty-two thousand of the Israelite men down to the ground. 20:22The people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day. 20:23The children of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until evening; and they asked of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?” Yahweh said, “Go up against him.” 20:24The children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. 20:25Benjamin went out against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men. All these drew the sword. 20:26Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before Yahweh, and fasted that day until evening; then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh. 20:27The children of Israel asked Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 20:28and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?” Yahweh said, “Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.” 20:29Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah. 20:30The children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 20:31The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 20:32The children of Benjamin said, “They are struck down before us, as at the first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 20:33All the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. Then the ambushers of Israel broke out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba. 20:34Ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came over against Gibeah, and the battle was severe; but they didn’t know that disaster was close to them. 20:35Yahweh struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men. All these drew the sword. 20:36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck; for the men of Israel yielded to Benjamin, because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah. 20:37The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. 20:38Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city. 20:39The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, “Surely they are struck down before us, as in the first battle.” 20:40But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke to the sky. 20:41The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that disaster had come on them. 20:42Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the middle of it. 20:43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and trod them down at their resting place, as far as near Gibeah toward the sunrise. 20:44Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. 20:45They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and they gleaned five thousand men of them in the highways, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck two thousand men of them. 20:46So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword. All these were men of valor. 20:47But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed in the rock of Rimmon four months. 20:48The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the livestock, and all that they found. Moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.
21:1Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 21:2The people came to Bethel, and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely. 21:3They said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel today?” 21:4On the next day, the people rose early, and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 21:5The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up in the assembly to Yahweh?” For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn’t come up to Yahweh to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” 21:6The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “There is one tribe cut off from Israel today. 21:7How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?” 21:8They said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up to Yahweh to Mizpah?” Behold, no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly. 21:9For when the people were counted, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there. 21:10The congregation sent twelve thousand of the most valiant men there, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. 21:11This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man.” 21:12They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 21:13The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. 21:14Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead. There still weren’t enough for them. 21:15The people grieved for Benjamin, because Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 21:16Then the elders of the congregation said, “How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” 21:17They said, “There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. 21:18However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, ‘Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.’” 21:19They said, “Behold, there is a feast of Yahweh from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.” 21:20They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 21:21and see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 21:22It shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we didn’t take for each man his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.’” 21:23The children of Benjamin did so, and took wives for themselves, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off. They went and returned to their inheritance, built the cities, and lived in them. 21:24The children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they each went out from there to his own inheritance. 21:25In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.
Ruth
1:1In the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 1:2The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab, and lived there. 1:3Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. 1:4They took for themselves wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years. 1:5Mahlon and Chilion both died, and the woman was bereaved of her two children and of her husband. 1:6Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread. 1:7She went out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her. They went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 1:8Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me. 1:9May Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices, and wept. 1:10They said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.” 1:11Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 1:12Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons; 1:13would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me seriously for your sakes, for Yahweh’s hand has gone out against me.” 1:14They lifted up their voices, and wept again; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her. 1:15She said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.” 1:16Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. 1:17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” 1:18When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 1:19So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. When they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was excited about them, and they asked, “Is this Naomi?” 1:20She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 1:21I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” 1:22So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
2:1Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. 2:2Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 2:3She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 2:4Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “May Yahweh be with you.” They answered him, “May Yahweh bless you.” 2:5Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose young lady is this?” 2:6The servant who was set over the reapers answered, “It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. 2:7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she rested a little in the house.” 2:8Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go from here, but stay here close to my maidens. 2:9Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn.” 2:10Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?” 2:11Boaz answered her, “I have been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before. 2:12May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 2:13Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not as one of your servants.” 2:14At meal time Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” She sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it. 2:15When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t reproach her. 2:16Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it. Let her glean, and don’t rebuke her.” 2:17So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 2:18She took it up, and went into the city. Then her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned; and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left after she had enough. 2:19Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you.” She told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 2:20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yahweh, who has not abandoned his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen.” 2:21Ruth the Moabitess said, “Yes, he said to me, ‘You shall stay close to my young men, until they have finished all my harvest.’” 2:22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field.” 2:23So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.
3:1Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 3:2Now isn’t Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he will be winnowing barley tonight on the threshing floor. 3:3Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor, but don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 3:4It shall be, when he lies down, that you shall note the place where he is lying. Then you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lay down. Then he will tell you what to do.” 3:5She said to her, “All that you say, I will do.” 3:6She went down to the threshing floor, and did everything that her mother-in-law told her. 3:7When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. She came softly, uncovered his feet, and laid down. 3:8At midnight, the man was startled and turned himself; and behold, a woman lay at his feet. 3:9He said, “Who are you?” She answered, “I am Ruth your servant. Therefore spread the corner of your garment over your servant; for you are a near kinsman.” 3:10He said, “You are blessed by Yahweh, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, because you didn’t follow young men, whether poor or rich. 3:11Now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do to you all that you say; for all the city of my people knows that you are a worthy woman. 3:12Now it is true that I am a near kinsman. However, there is a kinsman nearer than I. 3:13Stay this night, and in the morning, if he will perform for you the part of a kinsman, good. Let him do the kinsman’s duty. But if he will not do the duty of a kinsman for you, then I will do the duty of a kinsman for you, as Yahweh lives. Lie down until the morning.” 3:14She lay at his feet until the morning, then she rose up before one could discern another. For he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” 3:15He said, “Bring the mantle that is on you, and hold it.” She held it; and he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her; then he went into the city. 3:16When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?” She told her all that the man had done for her. 3:17She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley; for he said, ‘Don’t go empty to your mother-in-law.’” 3:18Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know what will happen; for the man will not rest until he has settled this today.”
4:1Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. He said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He came over, and sat down. 4:2He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here,” and they sat down. 4:3He said to the near kinsman, “Naomi, who has come back out of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s. 4:4I thought I should tell you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you.” He said, “I will redeem it.” 4:5Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.” 4:6The near kinsman said, “I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can’t redeem it.” 4:7Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the way of formalizing transactions in Israel. 4:8So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” then he took off his shoe. 4:9Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, “You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. 4:10Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.” 4:11All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. 4:12Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which Yahweh will give you by this young woman.” 4:13So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. 4:14The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel. 4:15He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 4:16Naomi took the child, and laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to it. 4:17The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi”. They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 4:18Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, 4:19and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, 4:20and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, 4:21and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, 4:22and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.
1 Samuel
1:1Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 1:2He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 1:3This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Yahweh, were there. 1:4When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions; 1:5but to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had shut up her womb. 1:6Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. 1:7As he did so year by year, when she went up to Yahweh’s house. Her rival provoked her; therefore she wept, and didn’t eat. 1:8Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” 1:9So Hannah rose up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of Yahweh’s temple. 1:10She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, weeping bitterly. 1:11She vowed a vow, and said, “Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look at the affliction of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head.” 1:12As she continued praying before Yahweh, Eli saw her mouth. 1:13Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 1:14Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Get rid of your wine!” 1:15Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. 1:16Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation.” 1:17Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.” 1:18She said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more. 1:19They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before Yahweh, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah. Then Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her. 1:20When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of Yahweh.” 1:21The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 1:22But Hannah didn’t go up; for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh, and stay there forever.” 1:23Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may Yahweh establish his word.” So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him. 1:24When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to Yahweh’s house in Shiloh. The child was young. 1:25They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli. 1:26She said, “Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh. 1:27I prayed for this child; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him. 1:28Therefore I have also given him to Yahweh. As long as he lives he is given to Yahweh.” He worshiped Yahweh there.
2:1Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2:2There is no one as holy as Yahweh, For there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God. 2:3“Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, For Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed. 2:4“The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength. 2:5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Yes, the barren has borne seven. She who has many children languishes. 2:6“Yahweh kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up. 2:7Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. 2:8He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them. 2:9He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; for no man shall prevail by strength. 2:10Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” 2:11Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served Yahweh before Eli the priest. 2:12Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh. 2:13The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; 2:14and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 2:15Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.” 2:16If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires”; then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.” 2:17The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised the offering of Yahweh. 2:18But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod. 2:19Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 2:20Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May Yahweh give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh.” Then they went to their own home. 2:21Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh. 2:22Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 2:23He said to them, “Why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all this people. 2:24No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear! You make Yahweh’s people disobey. 2:25If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them. 2:26The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men. 2:27A man of God came to Eli, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? 2:28Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 2:29Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’ 2:30“Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed. 2:31Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house. 2:32You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 2:33The man of yours, whom I don’t cut off from my altar, will consume your eyes and grieve your heart; and all the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age. 2:34“‘This will be the sign to you, that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die. 2:35I will raise me up a faithful priest, that will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house; and he will walk before my anointed forever. 2:36It will happen, that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”
3:1The child Samuel ministered to Yahweh before Eli. Yahweh’s word was precious in those days. There were not many visions, then. 3:2At that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see), 3:3and God’s lamp hadn’t yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down in Yahweh’s temple, where God’s ark was; 3:4Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, “Here I am.” 3:5He ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He said, “I didn’t call. Lie down again.” He went and lay down. 3:6Yahweh called yet again, “Samuel!” Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He answered, “I didn’t call, my son. Lie down again.” 3:7Now Samuel didn’t yet know Yahweh, neither was Yahweh’s word yet revealed to him. 3:8Yahweh called Samuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” Eli perceived that Yahweh had called the child. 3:9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down. It shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Yahweh; for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 3:10Yahweh came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.” 3:11Yahweh said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 3:12In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. 3:13For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them. 3:14Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be removed with sacrifice or offering forever.” 3:15Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of Yahweh’s house. Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. 3:16Then Eli called Samuel, and said, “Samuel, my son!” He said, “Here I am.” 3:17He said, “What is the thing that he has spoken to you? Please don’t hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you.” 3:18Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him. He said, “It is Yahweh. Let him do what seems good to him.” 3:19Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. 3:20All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh. 3:21Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by Yahweh’s word.
4:1The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. 4:2The Philistines put themselves in array against Israel. When they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. 4:3When the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us get the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of Shiloh and bring it to us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.” 4:4So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 4:5When the ark of Yahweh’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. 4:6When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” They understood that Yahweh’s ark had come into the camp. 4:7The Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” They said, “Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing before. 4:8Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 4:9Be strong, and behave like men, O you Philistines, that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight!” 4:10The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell. 4:11God’s ark was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. 4:12A man of Benjamin ran out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with dirt on his head. 4:13When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching; for his heart trembled for God’s ark. When the man came into the city and told about it, all the city cried out. 4:14When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?” The man hurried, and came and told Eli. 4:15Now Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were set, so that he could not see. 4:16The man said to Eli, “I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army.” He said, “How did the matter go, my son?” 4:17He who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.” 4:18When he made mention of God’s ark, Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years. 4:19His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered. When she heard the news that God’s ark was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth; for her pains came on her. 4:20About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Don’t be afraid; for you have given birth to a son.” But she didn’t answer, neither did she regard it. 4:21She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel”; because God’s ark was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 4:22She said, “The glory has departed from Israel; for God’s ark has been taken.”
5:1Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 5:2The Philistines took God’s ark, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. 5:3When the people of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before Yahweh’s ark. They took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 5:4When they arose early on the following morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before Yahweh’s ark; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso was intact. 5:5Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon’s house, step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day. 5:6But Yahweh’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders. 5:7When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us; for his hand is severe on us, and on Dagon our god.” 5:8They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.” They carried the ark of the God of Israel there. 5:9It was so, that after they had carried it there, Yahweh’s hand was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city, both small and great so that tumors broke out on them. 5:10So they sent God’s ark to Ekron. As God’s ark came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel here to us, to kill us and our people.” 5:11They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 5:12The men who didn’t die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
6:1Yahweh’s ark was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 6:2The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with Yahweh’s ark? Show us how we should send it to its place.” 6:3They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, don’t send it empty; but by all means return a trespass offering to him. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.” 6:4Then they said, “What should the trespass offering be which we shall return to him?” They said, “Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, for the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. 6:5Therefore you shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his hand from you, from your gods, and from your land. 6:6Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had worked wonderfully among them, didn’t they let the people go, and they departed? 6:7“Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart, and two milk cows, on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them; 6:8and take Yahweh’s ark, and lay it on the cart. Put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by its side; and send it away, that it may go. 6:9Behold; if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us. It was a chance that happened to us.” 6:10The men did so, and took two milk cows, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 6:11They put Yahweh’s ark on the cart, and the coffer with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 6:12The cows took the straight way by the way to Beth Shemesh. They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh. 6:13The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 6:14The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there, where there was a great stone. Then they split the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for a burnt offering to Yahweh. 6:15The Levites took down Yahweh’s ark, and the coffer that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to Yahweh. 6:16When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. 6:17These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering to Yahweh: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; 6:18and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone, on which they set down Yahweh’s ark. That stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. 6:19He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into Yahweh’s ark, he struck fifty thousand seventy of the men. Then the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter. 6:20The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? To whom shall he go up from us?” 6:21They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back Yahweh’s ark. Come down, and bring it up to yourselves.”
7:1The men of Kiriath Jearim came, and took Yahweh’s ark, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep Yahweh’s ark. 7:2From the day that the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, the time was long; for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after Yahweh. 7:3Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 7:4Then the children of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only. 7:5Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you.” 7:6They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah. 7:7When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 7:8The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” 7:9Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to Yahweh. Samuel cried to Yahweh for Israel; and Yahweh answered him. 7:10As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines came near to battle against Israel; but Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel. 7:11The men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and struck them, until they came under Beth Kar. 7:12Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Yahweh helped us until now.” 7:13So the Philistines were subdued, and they stopped coming within the border of Israel. Yahweh’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 7:14The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel recovered its border out of the hand of the Philistines. There was peace between Israel and the Amorites. 7:15Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 7:16He went from year to year in a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places. 7:17His return was to Ramah, for his house was there; and he judged Israel there; and he built an altar to Yahweh there.
8:1When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 8:2Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. 8:3His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. 8:4Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah. 8:5They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 8:6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Samuel prayed to Yahweh. 8:7Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them. 8:8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so they also do to you. 8:9Now therefore listen to their voice. However you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them.” 8:10Samuel told all Yahweh’s words to the people who asked him for a king. 8:11He said, “This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots. 8:12He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. 8:13He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers. 8:14He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even their best, and give them to his servants. 8:15He will take one tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers, and to his servants. 8:16He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work. 8:17He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants. 8:18You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day.” 8:19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No; but we will have a king over us, 8:20that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” 8:21Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Yahweh. 8:22Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and make them a king.” Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Everyone go to your own city.”
9:1Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. 9:2He had a son, whose name was Saul, an impressive young man; and there was not among the children of Israel a better person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people. 9:3The donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. Kish said to Saul his son, “Take now one of the servants with you, and arise, go look for the donkeys.” 9:4He passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they didn’t find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and there they weren’t there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they didn’t find them. 9:5When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, and let us return, lest my father stop caring about the donkeys, and be anxious for us.” 9:6The servant said to him, “Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says surely happens. Now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us which way to go.” 9:7Then Saul said to his servant, “But, behold, if we go, what should we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our sacks, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” 9:8The servant answered Saul again, and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.” 9:9(In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was before called a seer.) 9:10Then Saul said to his servant, “Well said. Come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was. 9:11As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?” 9:12They answered them, and said, “He is. Behold, he is before you. Hurry now, for he has come today into the city; for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place. 9:13As soon as you have come into the city, you will immediately find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he come, because he blesses the sacrifice. Afterwards those who are invited eat. Now therefore go up; for at this time you will find him.” 9:14They went up to the city. As they came within the city, behold, Samuel came out toward them, to go up to the high place. 9:15Now Yahweh had revealed to Samuel a day before Saul came, saying, 9:16“Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry has come to me.” 9:17When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh said to him, “Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! He will have authority over my people.” 9:18Then Saul approached Samuel in the gateway, and said, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.” 9:19Samuel answered Saul, and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you are to eat with me today. In the morning I will let you go, and will tell you all that is in your heart. 9:20As for your donkeys who were lost three days ago, don’t set your mind on them; for they have been found. For whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you, and for all your father’s house?” 9:21Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me like this?” 9:22Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the guest room, and made them sit in the best place among those who were invited, who were about thirty persons. 9:23Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Set it aside.’” 9:24The cook took up the thigh, and that which was on it, and set it before Saul. Samuel said, “Behold, that which has been reserved! Set it before yourself and eat; because for the appointed time has it been kept for you, for I said, ‘I have invited the people.’” So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 9:25When they had come down from the high place into the city, he talked with Saul on the housetop. 9:26They arose early; and about daybreak, Samuel called to Saul on the housetop, saying, “Get up, that I may send you away.” Saul arose, and they both went outside, he and Samuel, together. 9:27As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” He went ahead, then Samuel said, “But stand still first, that I may cause you to hear God’s message.”
10:1Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, “Hasn’t Yahweh anointed you to be prince over his inheritance? 10:2When you have departed from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will tell you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found; and behold, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys, and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do for my son?”’ 10:3“Then you will go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor. Three men will meet you there going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. 10:4They will greet you, and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hand. 10:5“After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. 10:6Then Yahweh’s Spirit will come mightily on you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be turned into another man. 10:7Let it be, when these signs have come to you, that you do what is appropriate for the occasion; for God is with you. 10:8“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Wait seven days, until I come to you, and show you what you are to do.” 10:9It was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs happened that day. 10:10When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them. 10:11When all who knew him before saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said to one another, “What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 10:12One of the same place answered, “Who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 10:13When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. 10:14Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” He said, “To seek the donkeys. When we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel.” 10:15Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 10:16Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found.” But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel spoke, he didn’t tell him. 10:17Samuel called the people together to Yahweh to Mizpah; 10:18and he said to the children of Israel, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 10:19But you have today rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, ‘No! Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes, and by your thousands.” 10:20So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. 10:21He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families; and the family of the Matrites was chosen. Then Saul the son of Kish was chosen; but when they looked for him, he could not be found. 10:22Therefore they asked of Yahweh further, “Is there yet a man to come here?” Yahweh answered, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 10:23They ran and got him there. When he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. 10:24Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?” All the people shouted, and said, “Long live the king!” 10:25Then Samuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Yahweh. Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 10:26Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and the army went with him, whose hearts God had touched. 10:27But certain worthless fellows said, “How could this man save us?” They despised him, and brought him no present. But he held his peace.
11:1Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.” 11:2Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make it with you, that all your right eyes be gouged out. I will make this dishonor all Israel.” 11:3The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.” 11:4Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 11:5Behold, Saul came following the oxen out of the field; and Saul said, “What ails the people that they weep?” They told him the words of the men of Jabesh. 11:6God’s Spirit came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger burned hot. 11:7He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever doesn’t come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” The dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out as one man. 11:8He counted them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 11:9They said to the messengers who came, “Tell the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be rescued.’” The messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 11:10Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you.” 11:11On the next day, Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the middle of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. 11:12The people said to Samuel, “Who is he who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring those men, that we may put them to death!” 11:13Saul said, “No man shall be put to death today; for today Yahweh has rescued Israel.” 11:14Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.” 11:15All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before Yahweh in Gilgal. There they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.