Meanwhile, Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been severely oppressing the descendants of Gad and descendants of Reuben, gouging out their right eyes and not allowing Israel to have a deliverer. No one was left among the Israelis across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. However, 7,000 men had escaped from the Ammonites and entered Jabesh-gilead.

And Nahash the Ammonite saith unto them, 'For this I covenant with you, by picking out to you every right eye -- and I have put it a reproach on all Israel.'

And the elders of Jabesh say to him, 'Let us alone seven days, and we send messengers into all the border of Israel: and if there is none saving us -- then we have come out unto thee.'

And they said to the messengers that came, thus shall ye say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, To-morrow by the time the sun is hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and showed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.

and the men of Jabesh say to the Ammonites, 'To-morrow we come out unto you, and ye have done to us according to all that is good in your eyes.'

And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that Saul putteth the people in three detachments, and they come into the midst of the camp in the morning-watch, and smite Ammon till the heat of the day; and it cometh to pass that those left are scattered, and there have not been left of them two together.

And Samuel said to all Israel, behold, I have hearkened to your voice in all that ye said to me, and have made a king over you.

And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and gray-headed; and behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood to this day.

Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed; whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or from whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes with it? and I will restore it you.

Then they said, "You have not exploited us or oppressed us, and you have not taken anything from the hand of anyone."

And he said to them, The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found aught in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.

And they cried to the LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was coming against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king rule over us’—even though the Lord your God is your king.

Now therefore, behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and behold, the LORD hath set a king over you.

If ye fear Jehovah, and have served Him, and hearkened to His voice, then ye do not provoke the mouth of Jehovah, and ye have been -- both ye and the king who hath reigned over you -- after Jehovah your God.

And if ye do not hearken to the voice of Jehovah -- then ye have provoked the mouth of Jehovah, and the hand of Jehovah hath been against you, and against your fathers.

Is it not wheat-harvest to-day? I will call to the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.

And all the people said to Samuel, Pray for thy servants to the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.

And Samuel said to the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;

And do not turn aside after the triviality, which have no value and cannot deliver, for they are triviality.

'I, also, far be it from me to sin against Jehovah, by ceasing to pray for you, and I have directed you in the good and upright way;

only, fear ye Jehovah, and ye have served Him in truth with all your heart, for see that which He hath made great with you;

and Saul chooseth for himself three thousand men out of Israel; and two thousand are with Saul in Michmash, and in the hill-country of Beth-El; and a thousand have been with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the remnant of the people he hath sent each to his tents.

And, all Israel, heard say - Saul hath smitten the garrison of the Philistines, Moreover, also, Israel have made themselves odious among the Philistines, - so the people were called together to follow Saul, to Gilgal.

And the Philistines have been gathered to fight with Israel; thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a people as the sand which is on the sea-shore for multitude; and they come up and encamp in Michmash, east of Beth-Aven.

And the men of Israel have seen that they are distressed, that the people hath been oppressed, and the people hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.

And Hebrews have passed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; and Saul is yet in Gilgal, and all the people have trembled after him.

But Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the army {was scattering} from me and you did not come {at the appointed time} and [that the] Philistines had gathered at Micmash,

Therefore said I, the Philistines will now come down upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD; I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt-offering.

And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.

But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his [own] heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you."

and Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people who are found with them, are abiding in Gibeah of Benjamin, and the Philistines have encamped in Michmash.

So all Israel [went] down to [the] Philistines, each to have his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his iron plowshare sharpened.

On the day of battle, none of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan were armed with swords or spears, but Saul and his son Jonathan did have them.

And Jonathan said to his young servant who had his arms, Come, let us go over to the armies of these men who have no circumcision: it may be that the Lord will give us help, for there is no limit to his power; the Lord is able to give salvation by a great army or by a small band.

if thus they say unto us, 'Stand still till we have come unto you,' then we have stood in our place, and do not go up unto them;

and if thus they say, 'Come up against us,' then we have gone up, for Jehovah hath given them into our hand, and this to us is the sign.

So the two of them showed themselves to the garrison of [the] Philistines, and [the] Philistines said, "The Hebrews [are] coming out from the holes in which they have hidden themselves."

And the first smiting which Jonathan and the bearer of his weapons have smitten is of about twenty men, in about half a furrow of a yoke of a field,

and there is a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people, the station and the destroyers have trembled -- even they, and the earth shaketh, and it becometh a trembling of God.

And the Hebrews who have been for the Philistines as heretofore, who had gone up with them into the camp, have turned round, even they, to be with Israel who are with Saul and Jonathan,

and all the men of Israel, who are hiding themselves in the hill-country of Ephraim, have heard that the Philistines have fled, and they pursue -- even they -- after them in battle.

Now the men of Israel were hard pressed on that day, because Saul had made the army take an oath, saying, "Cursed be the man who eats [any] food until evening, when I will have avenged myself on my enemies!" So none of the army tasted [any] food.

And all they of the land have come into a forest, and there is honey on the face of the field;

Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.

{How much more could have been done} if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder of their enemies that they had found! For now the loss among [the] Philistines [is] not great."

Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone to me this day.

And Saul saith, 'Be ye scattered among the people, and ye have said to them, Bring ye nigh unto me each his ox, and each his sheep; and ye have slain them in this place, and eaten, and ye do not sin against Jehovah to eat with the blood.' And all the people bring nigh each his ox, in his hand, that night, and slaughter them there.

Therefore Saul said, ?LORD, God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this sin is mine or in Jonathan my son, LORD, God of Israel, give Urim. But if this sin is in your people Israel, give Thummim.? And Jonathan and Saul were chosen, but the people were cleared.

So Saul said, "Tell me what you have done." So Jonathan told him and said, "I {merely tasted} a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, I must die."

And Saul goeth up from after the Philistines, and the Philistines have gone to their place;

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'I have observed what Amalek did to Israel, {how he opposed him} when he went up from Egypt.

Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you with them. You have shown loyal love to all the {Israelites} when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites left from among [the] Amalekites.

and Saul hath pity -- also the people -- on Agag, and on the best of the flock, and of the herd, and of the seconds, and on the lambs, and on all that is good, and have not been willing to devote them; and all the work, despised and wasted -- it they devoted.

I repent that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried to the LORD all night.

And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said to him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.

And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Samuel continued, “Although you once considered yourself unimportant, have you not become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel

When Yahweh sent you on your way, he said to you: 'Go! You must utterly destroy the sinners, [the] Amalekites, and you must fight against them until you have destroyed them.'

Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!"

And Saul said to Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!"

And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

So now, let my sin have forgiveness, and go back with me to give worship to the Lord.

But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!"

Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.

And Samuel said, As women have been made childless by thy sword, So, childless among women, shall be, thine own mother. And Samuel cut Agag asunder before Yahweh, in Gilgal.

And the LORD said to Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul shall hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.

So Samuel did what Yahweh said. He came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. They said, "{Have you come in peace}?"

And he said, Peaceably: I have come to sacrifice to the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the hight of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” he answered, “but right now he’s tending the sheep.” Samuel told Jesse, “Send for him. We won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.”

And Saul saith unto his servants, 'Provide, I pray you, for me a man playing well -- then ye have brought him in unto me.'

Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is skillful in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.

and Saul and the men of Israel have been gathered, and encamp by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array to meet the Philistines.

And he stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, Why have ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

if he be able to fight with me, and have smitten me, then we have been to you for servants; and if I am able for him, and have smitten him, then ye have been to us for servants, and have served us.'

And the Philistine said, I have defied the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

and the three eldest sons of Jesse go, they have gone after Saul to battle; and the name of his three sons who have gone into battle are Eliab the first-born, and his second Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

And David is the youngest, and the three eldest have gone after Saul,

And David riseth early in the morning, and leaveth the flock to a keeper, and lifteth up, and goeth, as Jesse commanded him, and he cometh in to the path, and to the force which is going out unto the rank, and they have shouted for battle;

And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that hath come up? surely to defy Israel hath he come: and it shall be, that the man who shall kill him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.

His oldest brother Eliab heard while he was speaking to the men, {and Eliab became very angry against David} and said, "Why have you come down today, and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumptuousness and the evil of your heart! For you have come down in order to see the battle!"

And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart become feeble because of him; I, your servant, will go out and have a fight with this Philistine.

And Saul said to David, You are not able to go out against this Philistine and have a fight with him: for you are only a boy, and he has been a man of war from his earliest days.

and I have gone out after him, and smitten him, and delivered out of his mouth, and he riseth against me, and I have taken hold on his beard, and smitten him, and put him to death.

And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he essayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And David put them off from him.

Then David said to the Philistine, "You [are] coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied!

This day doth Jehovah shut thee up into my hand -- and I have smitten thee, and turned aside thy head from off thee, and given the carcase of the camp of the Philistines this day to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth, and all the earth do know that God is for Israel.

David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand.

And when Saul seeth David going out to meet the Philistine, he hath said unto Abner, head of the host, 'Whose son is this -- the youth, Abner?' and Abner saith, 'Thy soul liveth, O king, I have not known.'

And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; and what can he have more but the kingdom?

And Saul had a spear in his hand, and hurled it; intending to have nailed David to the wall. But David avoided out of his presence two times.

But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite to wife.

And Saul commandeth his servants, 'Speak unto David gently, saying, Lo, the king hath delighted in thee, and all his servants have loved thee, and now, be son-in-law to the king.'

And his servants declare to David these words, and the thing is right in the eyes of David, to be son-in-law to the king; and the days have not been full,