Hannah did not go up because she had told her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I'll take him to appear in the LORD's presence and remain there forever."

Now the sons of Eli were worthless men who did not know the LORD.

A man of God came to Eli, saying to him, "This is what the LORD says: "When they were in Egypt and slaves to the house of Pharaoh, did I not reveal to the family of your ancestor Aaron

that I had chosen him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up burnt offerings on my altar, burn incense, and carry the ephod in my presence? And did I not give to your ancestors' family all the Israeli fire-offerings?

"Therefore, the LORD God of Israel has declared, "I did, in fact, say that your family and your ancestor's family would walk before me forever,' but now the LORD declares, "Far be it from me! The one who honors me I'll honor, and the one who despises me is to be treated with contempt.

He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am! You called me." "I didn't call you," Eli said. "Go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.

He said, "I didn't call you, my son. Go back and lie down." Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD and had not yet had the word of the LORD revealed to him.

I've told him that I'm about to judge his family forever because of the iniquity that he knew about. His sons committed blasphemy and he did not rebuke them.

Eli said, "What did the LORD say to you? Please don't conceal anything from me. May God do this to you and even more if you conceal from me one word of all that he spoke to you."

So Samuel told him everything he did not conceal anything from him. Eli said, "He is the LORD. May he do what seems good to him."

As Samuel grew, the LORD was with him and did not let any of Samuel's predictions fail.

When the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why did the LORD defeat us today when we fought the Philistines? Let's take the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so it may go with us and deliver us from the power of our enemies."

As she was about to die, the women standing around her said, "Don't be afraid! You've given birth to a son." But she did not respond or pay attention.

The people who did not die were afflicted with tumors of the groin, and the cry of the town went up to heaven.

The men did this. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves in the house.

The cows took a straight path along the road to Beth-shemesh. They stayed on the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn to the right or the left. The Philistine lords followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.

The Philistines were subdued, and they did not continue to enter the territory of Israel.

His sons did not follow Samuel's example. Instead, they pursued dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

He went through the hill country of Ephraim and through the region of Shalishah, but they did not find them. Then they went through the region of Shaalim, but they were not there. They also went through the territory of the descendants of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

Saul's uncle told him and to his young man, "Where did you go?" He said, "To look for the donkeys, and when we saw that they couldn't be found, we went to Samuel."

Saul told his uncle, "He actually told us that the donkeys had been found," but he did not tell him about the matter of kingship about which Samuel had spoken.

But some troublemakers said, "How can this man deliver us?" They despised him and did not bring him a gift. But Saul remained silent.

Now stand up and I'll pass judgment on you in light of the LORD's righteous acts that he did for you and your ancestors.

But if you don't obey the LORD and rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the LORD will turn against you as he did against your ancestors.

Saul waited seven days for the appointment set by Samuel. When Samuel did not arrive at Gilgal, as the people began to scatter from Saul,

Saul replied, "When? I saw that the people were scattering from me, that you didn't come at the appointed time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash. I thought, "The Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal but I've not sought the favor of the LORD,' so I forced myself to offer the burnt offering."

but now your kingdom won't be established. The LORD has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as Commander-in-Chief over his people because you didn't obey that which the LORD commanded you."

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.

One day Jonathan told his armor bearer, "Come, let's go over to the Philistine garrison which is on the other side," but he did not tell his father.

Along with him were Ahitub's son Ahijah, Ichabod's brother, who was Phineas' son and a grandson of Eli the priest of the LORD at Shiloh, who was carrying the ephod. The people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

Saul told the people who were with him, "Do a roll call and see who has left us." They did a roll call, and Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.

Saul inquired of God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?" But God did not answer him that day.

Saul told Jonathan, "Tell me what you've done." So Jonathan spoke to him: "I did taste a little honey from the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am; I'm ready to die!"

Then the army told Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who brought about this great deliverance in Israel? As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head will fall to the ground, because today he did this with God's help."

This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "I'll punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, when he set himself against Israel in the way, as they were going up from Egypt.

Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle the fattened animals and lambs along with all that was good. They were not willing to completely destroy them, but they did completely destroy everything that was worthless and inferior.

Why didn't you obey the LORD, but grabbed the spoil and did evil in the LORD's sight?"

Saul told Samuel, "I did obey the LORD. I went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, I brought Agag king of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites.

Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul, and the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Samuel did what the LORD said and went to Bethlehem. The elders of the town came out to meet him trembling, and said, "May your coming be in peace."

"Did all of you see this man coming up?" one Israeli asked. "He comes up to defy Israel, and the king will richly reward the man who kills him. He will give his daughter to him and will make his father's house tax free in Israel."

Eliab his oldest brother heard him talking to the men. Eliab was angry with David and said, "Why did you come down here? And who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your insolence and wicked intentions. You came down just to see the battle!"

Saul took David that day and did not let him return to his father's house.

Saul was very angry and he did not like what the women sang. He told himself, "They have attributed tens of thousands to David, but to me they have attributed thousands. What else can he have but the kingdom?"

David was successful in all that he did, for the LORD was with him.

The Philistine commanders would go out to fight and whenever they did, David was more successful than any of Saul's other leaders. His name was held in high esteem.

Then Saul told Michal, "Why did you deceive me like this and let my enemy go so he could escape?" Michal told Saul, "He told me, "Let me go or I'll kill you!'"

Saul didn't say anything that day because he told himself, "Something has happened; he's unclean; surely he's not clean."

But the next day, on the second day of the New Moon, David's place was empty, and so Saul told his son Jonathan, "Why didn't Jesse's son come to the festival, either yesterday or today?"

He said, "Please let me go because our family has a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has ordered me to come. Now, if it's acceptable to you, please let me get away so I can see my brothers.' That's the reason he didn't come to the king's table."

Jonathan asked his father Saul, "Why should he be killed? What did he do?"

Is today the first time I inquired of God for him? Absolutely not! The king shouldn't accuse his servant, or any of my father's family of anything, because your servant didn't know anything at all about this."

The king told the guards, who were standing beside him, "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD because they supported David, and because they knew he was fleeing, but didn't inform me." But the officials of the king did not want to lift their hands to attack the priests of the LORD.

David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and he lived in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not let David slip into Saul's control.

David restrained his men with his words and did not allow them to rebel against Saul. Saul got up from the cave and started off.

You have explained how you treated me well, in that the LORD delivered me into your hand but you didn't kill me.

Now, I've heard that the sheep shearers are with you. Now, your shepherds have been with us. We didn't harm them, and they didn't miss anything all the time they were in Carmel.

The men were very good to us. They didn't harm us, and we didn't miss anything all the time we moved around with them when we were in the field.

Please, your majesty, don't pay attention to this worthless man Nabal, for he's just like his name. Nabal is his name and folly is his constant companion. But I, your servant, didn't see your majesty's young men whom you sent.

Abigail returned to Nabal, and he was there in his house holding a festival like the festival of a king. Nabal's heart was glad, and he was very drunk, so she didn't tell him anything at all until morning.

David told Abner, "Are you not a man, and who is like you in Israel? Why didn't you guard your lord, the king? Indeed, a soldier came to destroy the king, your lord.

This thing that you did is not good. As the LORD lives, you deserve to die, you who didn't guard your lord, the LORD's anointed. Where is the king's spear and where is the jug of water that was at his head?"

Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, and he did not continue to search for him.

David struck the land and did not leave a man or woman alive. He took sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing, and then came back and went to Achish.

Achish said, "Where did you raid today?"

David answered, "Against the Negev of Judah, against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites, and against the Negev of the Kenites." David did not leave a man or woman alive to bring to Gath. He told himself, "Otherwise, they'll say, "This is what David is doing, and this has been his practice all the time he has lived in Philistine territory.'"

Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him, either through dreams or Urim or through prophets.

Samuel told Saul, "Why did you disturb me by bringing me up?" Saul said, "I'm in great distress. The Philistines are waging war against me. God has departed from me and won't answer me anymore, either by messages written by the hand of the prophets or by dreams. So I've summoned you to tell me what I should do."

Because you didn't obey the LORD and didn't display his fierce anger against Amalek, therefore, the LORD will do this thing to you today.

They took the women in it captive, from young to old. They did not kill anyone. Instead, they carried them off and went on their way.

At this point, all the wicked and worthless men of the group who had gone with David answered, "Because they didn't go with us, we won't give them any of the spoil that we recovered, except that each person may take his wife and his children and go."

Saul told his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised people will come and run me through and make sport of me." But his armor bearer did not want to do it because he was very frightened, so Saul took the sword and fell on it.