And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before Jehovah.

Take not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my grief and provocation have I spoken hitherto.

And it came to pass when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of Jehovah.

And also I have lent him to Jehovah: all the days that he lives, he is lent to Jehovah. And he worshipped Jehovah there.

They that were full have hired themselves out for bread; and the hungry are so no more: Even the barren beareth seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

Wherefore do ye trample upon my sacrifice and upon mine oblation which I have commanded in my habitation? And thou honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the primest of all the oblations of Israel my people.

In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house; I will begin and make an end.

For I have declared to him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he hath known: because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.

And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated with sacrifice or oblation for ever.

Shew yourselves valiant and be men, ye Philistines, that ye may not have to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been servants to you: be men, and fight.

And the man said to Eli, I am he that came out of the battle, and I have fled to-day out of the battle. And he said, What has taken place, my son?

And they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, when the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people.

And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of Jehovah; come down, fetch it up to you.

And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Jehovah, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

According to all the deeds that they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, in that they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.

And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye have chosen; and Jehovah will not answer you in that day.

And Saul said to his servant, But if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and we have no present to give to the man of God: what have we?

And the servant answered Saul again and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver; that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.

And they answered them and said, He is; behold, he is before thee: make haste now, for he came to-day to the city; for the people have a sacrifice to-day in the high place.

To-morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him prince over my people Israel; and he will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me.

but ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your troubles, and have said unto him, Nay, but a king shalt thou set over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Jehovah by your tribes, and by your thousands.

And they said to the messengers that had come, Thus shall ye say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead: To-morrow ye shall have deliverance when the sun is hot. And the messengers came and informed the men of Jabesh-Gilead; and they were glad.

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 walks before you; and I am old and grey-headed; and behold, my sons are with you; and I have walked before you from my youth up to this day.

Here I am: testify against me before Jehovah, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I injured? or of whose hand have I received any ransom and blinded mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it to you.

And he said to them, Jehovah is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found aught in my hand! And the people said, He is witness!

And they cried to Jehovah and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken Jehovah, and have served the Baals and the Ashtoreths; and now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

And now behold, the king whom ye have chosen, whom ye have asked for! and behold, Jehovah has set a king over you.

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

And all the people said to Samuel, Pray to Jehovah thy God for thy servants, that we die not; for we have added to all our sins the wickedness to ask for ourselves a king.

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

I said, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to Jehovah; and I forced myself, and offered up the burnt-offering.

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

How much more, if the people had eaten freely to-day of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for would there not now have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?

And they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against Jehovah, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have acted perversely: roll me now a great stone.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I have considered what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.

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

It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned away from following me, and hath not fulfilled my words. And Samuel was much grieved; and he cried to Jehovah all night.

And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, Blessed art thou of Jehovah: I have fulfilled the word of Jehovah.

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

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

And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of Jehovah, and thy words; for I feared the people, and hearkened to their voice.

And he said, I have sinned; honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Jehovah thy God.

And Jehovah 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 Bethlehemite; for I have provided me a king among his sons.

But Jehovah said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him; for it is not as man seeth; for man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart.

And one of the young men answered and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skilled in playing, and he is a valiant man and a man of war, and skilled in speech, and of good presence, and Jehovah is with him.

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

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

And David said, What have I now done? Was it not laid upon me?

And David girded his sword upon his dress, and endeavoured to go; for he had not yet tried it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go in these; for I have never tried them. And David put them off him.

And Saul was very wroth, and that saying was evil in his sight; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed the thousands; and what is there more for him but the kingdom?

And 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 as wife.

And David fled from Naioth by Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity, and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeks my life?

And David swore again and again, and said, Thy father certainly knows that I have found favour in thy sight: and he has thought, Jonathan shall not know this, lest he be grieved; but truly as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.

If he say thus, It is well, thy servant shall have peace; but if he be very wroth, be sure that evil is determined by him.

And as to the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, Jehovah is between me and thee for ever.

and said, Let me go, I pray thee; for we have a family sacrifice in the city; and my brother himself has commanded me to be there; and now, if I have found favour in thy sight, let me go away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. He has therefore not come to the king's table.

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have both of us sworn in the name of Jehovah, saying, Jehovah be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever! And he arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business whereon I send thee, and what I have commanded thee; and I have directed the young men to such and such a place.

And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.

And David answered the priest and said to him, Yes indeed, women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, and the more so, because to-day new is hallowed in the vessels.

And David said to Ahimelech, And is there not here under thy hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, for the king's business was urgent.

have I lack of madmen, that ye have brought this one to rave in my presence? shall this man come into my house?

that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that informs me when my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or informs me that my son has stirred up my servant as a lier-in-wait against me, as at this day?

And Saul said to him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me as a lier-in-wait, as at this day?

And Saul said, Blessed be ye of Jehovah; for ye have compassion upon me.

But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Haste thee and come; for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that Jehovah had given thee this day into my hand in the cave; and they bade me kill thee; but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is the anointed of Jehovah.

And see, my father, yes, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand. For in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou liest in wait for my life to take it.

And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I; for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.

And now I have heard that thou hast shearers; now thy shepherds who were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there aught missed by them, all the while they were in Carmel.

And shall I take my bread, and my water, and my flesh which I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men whom I know not whence they are?

Now David had said, Surely, in vain have I kept all that this man had in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that was his; and he has requited me evil for good.

So David received of her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, Go up in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

This thing is not good which thou hast done. As Jehovah liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not guarded your master, Jehovah's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his head.

And he said, Why does my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in my hand?

And now, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If Jehovah have moved thee against me, let him accept an oblation; but if the sons of men, cursed be they before Jehovah; for they have driven me out this day from adhering to the inheritance of Jehovah, saying, Go, serve other gods.

And Saul said, I have sinned: return, my son David; for I will no more do thee harm, because my life was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have acted foolishly, and have erred exceedingly.

And David said to Achish, If now I have found favour in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some country-town, that I may abide there; for why should thy servant abide in the royal city with thee?

So Achish said, Have ye not made a raid to-day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.

And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul said, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams; therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known to me what I shall do.

And the woman came to Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said to him, Behold, thy bondmaid has hearkened to thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened to thy words which thou spokest to me.

And now, I pray thee, hearken thou also to the voice of thy bondmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee; and eat, that thou mayest have strength when thou goest on thy way.

And the princes of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews? And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years, and I have found nothing in him since the day of his falling away to me to this day?

And Achish called David, and said to him, As Jehovah liveth, thou art upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the camp is acceptable to me; for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming to me to this day; but thou art not acceptable to the lords.

And David said to Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee to this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art acceptable to me, as an angel of God; nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

And now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are come with thee; and rise ye early in the morning, and when ye have daylight, depart.

And all the wicked men, and men of Belial, of those that had gone with David, answered and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.