2A long time elapsed from the day that the Ark was housed in Kiriath-jearim, twenty years in all; and all the House of Israel a-yearned after-a the LORD. 3And Samuel said to all the House of Israel, “If you mean to return to the LORD with all your heart, you must remove the alien gods and the Ashtaroth from your midst and direct your heart to the LORD and serve Him alone. Then He will deliver you from the hands of the Philistines.” 4And the Israelites removed the Baalim and Ashtaroth and they served the LORD alone.
5Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” 6They assembled at Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it out before the LORD; they fasted that day, and there they confessed that they had sinned against the LORD. And Samuel acted as chieftain of the Israelites at Mizpah.
7When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had assembled at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines marched out against Israel. Hearing of this, the Israelites were terrified of the Philistines 8and they implored Samuel, “Do not neglect us and do not refrain from crying out to the LORD our God to save us from the hands of the Philistines.” 9Thereupon Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD; and Samuel cried out to the LORD in behalf of Israel, and the LORD responded to him. 10For as Samuel was presenting the burnt of-fering and the Philistines advanced to attack Israel, the LORD thundered mightily against the Philistines that day. He threw them into confusion, and they were routed by Israel. 11The men of Israel sallied out of Miz-pah and pursued the Philistines, striking them down to a point below Beth-car.
12Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen,b and named it Eben-ezer:c “For up to now,” he said, “the LORD has helped us.” 13The Philistines were humbled and did not invade the territory of Israel again; and the hand of the LORD was set against the Philistines as long as Samuel lived. 14The towns which the Philistines had taken from Israel, from Ekron to Gath, were restored to Israel; Israel recovered all her territory from the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15Samuel judged Israel as long as he lived. 16Each year he made the rounds of Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and acted as judge over Israel at all those places. 17Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there too he would judge Israel. He built an altar there to the LORD.
8 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons judges over Israel. 2The name of his first-born son was Joel, and his second son’s name was Abijah; they sat as judges in Beer-sheba. 3But his sons did not follow in his ways; they were bent on gain, they accepted bribes, and they subverted justice.
4All the elders of Israel assembled and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and they said to him, “You have grown old, and your sons have not followed your ways. Therefore appoint a king for us, to govern us like all other nations.” 6Samuel was displeased that they said “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the LORD, 7and the LORD replied to Samuel, “Heed the demand of the people in everything they say to you. For it is not you that they have rejected; it is Me they have rejected as their king. 8Like everything else they have done ever since I brought them out of Egypt to this day—forsaking Me and worshiping other gods—so they are doing to you. 9Heed their demand; but warn them solemnly, and tell them about the practices of any king who will rule over them.”
10Samuel reported all the words of the LORD to the people, who were asking him for a king. 11He said, “This will be the practice of the king who will rule over you: He will take your sons and appoint them as his charioteers and horsemen, and they will serve as outrunners for his char-iots. 12He will appoint them as his chiefs of thousands and of fifties; or they will have to plow his fields, reap his harvest, and make his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. 13He will take your daughters as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14He will seize your choice fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his courtiers. 15He will take a tenth part of your grain and vintage and give it to his eunuchs and courtiers. 16He will take your male and female slaves, your choice a-young men,-a and your asses, and put them to work for him. 17He will take a tenth part of your flocks, and you shall become his slaves. 18The day will come when you cry out because of the king whom you yourselves have chosen; and the LORD will not answer you on that day.”
19But the people would not listen to Samuel’s warning. “No,” they said. “We must have a king over us, 20that we may be like all the other nations: Let our king rule over us and go out at our head and fight our battles.” 21When Samuel heard all that the people said, he reported it to the LORD. 22And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed their demands and appoint a king for them.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “All of you go home.”
9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of sub-stance. 2He had a son whose name was Saul, an excellent young man; no one among the Israelites was handsomer than he; a-he was a head taller-a than any of the people.
3Once the asses of Saul’s father Kish went astray, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take along one of the servants and go out and look for the asses.” 4He passed into the hill country of Ephraim. He crossed the district of Shalishah, but they did not find them. They passed through the district of Shaalim, but they were not there. They traversed the [entire] territory of Benjamin, and still they did not find them. 5When they reached the district of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the asses and begin to worry about us.” 6But he replied, “There is a man of God in that town, and the man is highly esteemed; everything that he says comes true. Let us go there; perhaps he will tell us about the errand on which we set out.” 7“But if we go,” Saul said to his servant, “what can we bring the man? For the food in our bags is all gone, and there is nothing we can bring to the man of God as a present. What have we got?” 8The servant answered Saul again, “I happen to have a quarter-shekel of silver. I can give that to the man of God and he will tell us about our errand.”—9bFormerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for the prophet of today was formerly called a seer.—10Saul said to his servant, “A good idea; let us go.” And they went to the town where the man of God lived.
11As they were climbing the ascent to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the seer in town?” 12“Yes,” they replied. “He is up there ahead of you. c-Hurry, for he has just come to the town-c because the people have a sacrifice at the shrine today. 13As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the shrine to eat; the people will not eat until he comes; for he must first bless the sacrifice and only then will the guests eat. Go up at once, for you will find him right away.” 14So they went up to the town; and as they were entering the town,d Samuel came out toward them, on his way up to the shrine.
15Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed the following to Samuel: 16“At this time tomorrow, I will send a man to you from the territory of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him ruler of My people Israel. He will deliver My people from the hands of the Philistines; for I have taken note of e-My people,-e their outcry has come to Me.”
17As soon as Samuel saw Saul, the LORD declared to him, “This is the man that I told you would govern My people.” 18Saul approached Samuel inside the gate and said to him, “Tell me, please, where is the house of the seer?” 19And Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the shrine, for you shall eat with me today; and in the morning I will let you go, after telling you whatever may be on your mind. 20As for your asses that strayed three days ago, do not concern yourself about them, for they have been found.
