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“Do what you think is best,” her husband Elkanah replied, “and stay here until you have weaned him. Only may the LORD confirm His word.” So Hannah stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

Once she had weaned him, Hannah took the boy with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. Though the boy was still young, she brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.

And when they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli.

Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD

And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.

Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was located.

Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, because the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” And when they realized that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp,

As soon as the ark of God was mentioned, Eli fell backward from his chair by the city gate, and being old and heavy, he broke his neck and died. And Eli had judged Israel forty years.

And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.

And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,

But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the LORD’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.

Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.

When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months,

As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.

But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.

When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.

When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, their rulers marched up toward Israel. And when the Israelites learned of this, they feared the Philistines

The cities from Ekron to Gath, which the Philistines had taken, were restored to Israel, who also delivered the surrounding territory from the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between the Israelites and the Amorites.

And he had a son named Saul, choice and handsome, without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the people.

Now on the day before Saul’s arrival, the LORD had revealed to Samuel,

And after they had come down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof of his house.

When all those who had formerly known Saul saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

And when Saul had finished prophesying, he went up to the high place.

And Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.

And Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.

Thus Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected.

Then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its clans, and the clan of Matri was selected. Finally, Saul son of Kish was selected. But when they looked for him, they could not find him.

Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, and the men of valor whose hearts God had touched went with him.

So they said to the messengers who had come, “Tell the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Deliverance will be yours tomorrow by the time the sun is hot.’” And when the messengers relayed this to the men of Jabesh, they rejoiced.

“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.

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.”

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.

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

…including Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was the son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli the priest of the LORD in Shiloh. But the troops did not know that Jonathan had left.

Saul said to the troops who were with him, “Call the roll and see who has left us.” And when they had called the roll, they saw that Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there.

And the Hebrews who had previously gone up into the surrounding camps to join the Philistines now went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

When all the Israelites who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they also joined the battle in close pursuit.

Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, for Saul had placed the troops under an oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the troops tasted any food.

Jonathan, however, had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath. So he reached out the end of the staff in his hand, dipped it into the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.

Jonathan, however, had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath. So he reached out the end of the staff in his hand, dipped it into the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.

How much better it would have been if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been much greater?”

That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were very faint.

Then Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first time he had built an altar to the LORD.

After Saul had assumed the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side—the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he routed them.

And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

So Samuel did what the LORD had said and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?”

…and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels,

…and he had armor of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.

Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, Jesse was old and well along in years.

The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle: The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah.

And David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul,

So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry.

Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”

Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered.

As Saul had watched David going out to confront the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” “As surely as you live, O king,” Abner replied, “I do not know.”

After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

As the troops were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, and with tambourines and other instruments.

So Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had departed from Saul.

And the servants told Saul what David had said.

So David ran away and escaped. And he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.

“Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”

And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.

When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”

When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.

So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.

Soon Saul learned that David and his men had been discovered. At that time Saul was sitting under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with his spear in hand and all his servants standing around him.

Is that why all of you have conspired against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made a covenant with the son of Jesse. Not one of you has shown concern for me or revealed to me that my son has stirred up my own servant to lie in wait against me, as is the case today.”

But Doeg the Edomite, who had stationed himself with Saul’s servants, answered: “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.

And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.

(Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)

When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”

Then David and his men, about six hundred strong, set out and departed from Keilah, moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he declined to go forth.

While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.

“May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.

After Saul had returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.”

Afterward, David’s conscience was stricken because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

When David had finished saying these things, Saul called back, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud

Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.

Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives.

But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon, but David was living in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had followed him there,

David sent out spies to verify that Saul had arrived.

Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general of his army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp, with the troops camped around him.

Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general of his army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp, with the troops camped around him.

So David took the spear and water jug by Saul’s head, and they departed. No one saw them or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up; they all remained asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.

David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.

David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.

And when Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)

Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.

Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.

Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.

Immediately Saul fell flat on the ground, terrified by the words of Samuel. And his strength was gone, because he had not eaten anything all that day and night.

The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.

On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.