Hannah answered, and said, "Not so, my lord. I am a woman sorrowful in mine heart, and have drunk neither wine nor any strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.

Count not thine handmaid to be like a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my meditation and grief have I spoken hitherto."

They that were full, have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry cease so to be: insomuch that the barren hath borne seven, and she that had many children is waxed feeble.

Yea, and thereto before they had offered the fat, the priest's lad came and said to the man that offered, "Give flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw."

Wherefore the LORD God of Israel sayeth, 'I said that thine house and the house of thy father should have walked before me forever. But now the LORD sayeth that be far from me: for them that honoureth me I will honour, and they that despise me, shall not be regarded.

In that day I will perform to Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house: I will begin it and end it.

For I have told him that I will judge his house forever. For the wickedness which he knoweth, how his sons are ungracious, and he was not wroth therewith.

And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the wickedness of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering, while the world standeth."

Be strong and quit yourselves like men, ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men therefore and fight."

Then they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out saying, "They have brought the ark of the God of Israel unto us: to slay us and our people."

And they sent messengers to the inhabiters of Kiriathjearim saying, "The Philistines have brought home again the Ark of the LORD: come down and fetch it up to you."

And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted the same day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the causes of the children of Israel in Mizpeh.

and said unto him, "Behold, thou art old and thy sons follow not thy ways. Now, therefore, make us a king to judge us, as all other nations have."

And the LORD said unto Samuel, "Hear the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee. For they have not cast thee away, but me: that I should not reign over them.

And as they have ever done - since I brought them out of Egypt unto this day, and have forsaken me and served other gods - even so do they unto thee.

And when ye cry out at that time upon your king which ye shall have chosen you, the LORD will not hear you at that day."

Then said Saul to his lad, "If we go, what shall we bring the man? For our bread is all spent out of our hampers and there is none other present to bring the man of God. What have we?"

And the young man answered Saul again, and said, "I have found about me the fourth part of a sicle: that will we give the man of God to tell us our way."

"Tomorrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin: him shalt thou anoint to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines, for I have looked upon my people and their cry is come unto me."

And ye have this day cast away your God that helped you out of all your adversities and tribulations. And ye have said unto him: make a king over us. Now therefore stand before the LORD by your tribes and your thousands.'"

And they said unto the messengers that came, "So say unto the men of Jabesh in Gilead: 'Tomorrow, by the time the sun be hot, ye shall have help.'" And the messengers came and showed the men of Jabesh, and they were glad.

Then said Samuel unto all Israel, "Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made you a king.

And see, your king walketh before you. But I am old and grayheaded: and behold my sons are with you and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.

Behold, here I am. Answer me before the LORD and before his anointed, whose ox have I taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Whom have I done wrong to? Or whom have I oppressed? And of whose hand have I received any bribe, to blind mine eyes therewith? And I will restore it you again."

Then said he to them, "The LORD is witness unto you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have found nought in my hands." And they answered, "We are witnesses."

Then they cried unto the LORD and said, 'We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hands of our enemies and we will serve thee.'

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

Is it not now wheat harvest? And yet for all that, I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain. Wherefore, perceive and understand how that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the LORD in asking you a king."

Then said all the people unto Samuel, "Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have sinned in asking us a king, beside all the sins that ever we did."

Then said Samuel unto the people, "Fear not. And though ye have done all this wickedness, yet depart not from the LORD in any case. But serve him with all your hearts.

then said I, 'The Philistines shall come down upon me to Gilgal, before I have made supplication unto the LORD.' And therefore I took a courage with me and offered burnt offerings."

Then said Samuel to Saul, "Thou hast done foolishly and hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God which he commanded thee. For at this time would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.

Then men told Saul, saying, "Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood." And he said, "Ye have trespassed. But roll a great stone unto me now,

Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: 'I have called to remembrance that which Amalek did to Israel; how they lay in wait for them in the way, as they came out of Egypt.

Now therefore go and smite the Amalekites, and only destroy ye all that pertaineth unto them, and see thou have no compassion on them. But slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, and ox, sheep, camel and ass.'"

"It repenteth me that I have made Saul king. For he is turned from me and hath not performed my commandments." Wherefore Samuel was evil apaid and cried unto the LORD all night.

And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said unto him, "Blessed be thou in the LORD. I have done 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 unto the LORD thy God. And the remnant we have destroyed."

And then the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said unto thee, 'See that thou utterly destroy those sinners, the Amalekites and fight against them until ye have utterly destroyed them.'

And Saul said unto Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and went the way which the LORD sent me; and have brought Agag the king of the Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

And the people took of the spoil, sheep, oxen, and the chiefest of the things which should have been destroyed, to offer unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal."

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

Then he said, "I have sinned. But yet honour me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may pray unto the LORD thy God."

And then the LORD said unto Samuel, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have cast him away from reigning over Israel? Fill a horn with ointment, and come: I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have spied me a king among his sons."

But the LORD said unto Samuel, "Look not on his fashion nor on the height of his stature, for I have refused him. Because it is not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance: but the LORD beholdeth the heart."

Then answered one of his servants and said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that can play upon instruments, and is an active fellow and a man of war and prudent and well made, and the LORD is with him."

And the Philistine said, "I have defied the host of Israel this day; give me a man and let us fight together."

And David answered, "What have I now done? Is there any more, save a word?"

and gird David with his own sword upon his raiment. And he assayed to go, for he never proved it. Then said David unto Saul, "I cannot go in these, for I have not been used thereto." And put them off him,

Then was Saul exceeding wroth and that saying displeased him, and he said, "They have ascribed unto David ten thousand, and to me but a thousand. And what more can he have, save 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.

Howbeit, when the time was come that Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David she was given unto Adriel, a Meholathite, to wife.

And David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? Wherein am I faulty? What is the sin that I have committed before thy father that he seeketh my life?"

And David sware again and said, "Thy father knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes and therefore he thinketh, 'Jonathan shall not know it, lest he be sorry.' For in very deed even as truly as the LORD liveth, and as truly as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death."

And if thy father say thus, 'It is well done,' then thy servant shall have peace. But and if he be angry, then be sure that wickedness is utterly concluded of him.

And Jonathan said unto David, "O LORD God of Israel, when I have groped my father's mind, one time or other within this three days, that it stand well with David: and I then send not unto thee and show it thee, the LORD do so and so unto Jonathan.

And of this which thou and I have spoke, behold the LORD is witness between thee and me forever."

'Let me go I pray thee, for our kindred hold an offering in the city, and my brother hath sent for me. Now therefore if I have found favour in thine eyes let me go and see my brother.' And therefore he cometh not unto the table of the king."

And Jonathan said unto David, "Go thy way in peace. Whatsoever we both have sworn and spoken together in the name of the LORD, the LORD be witness between me and thee, and between my seed and thine forever." And Jonathan gat him up, and came into the city.

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king hath commanded me to do a certain thing and said unto me, 'Let no man know whereabouts I send and what I have commanded thee to do.' And therefore I have appointed my servants to such and such places.

And the priest answered David and said, "There is no common bread under mine hand - but there is hallowed bread, if the young men have abstained only from women."

And David said unto Ahimelech, "Is not here under thine hand other spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor mine harness with me, because the king's business required haste."

Then said Achish unto his servant, "Lo, ye saw that this man was beside himself; wherefore then have ye brought him to me?

Lack I madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? He shall not come into my house."

And David went thence to Mizpeh in the land of Moab, and said unto the king of Moab, "Let my father and mother, I pray thee, have their abiding with you, till I know what God will do with me."

that ye have all conspired against me? So that there is none of you that openeth mine ear? Insomuch that my son hath made a bond with the son of Jesse, neither is there any of you that mourneth for me or showeth it in mine ear: because my son hath set up my servant to lie await against me, as it appeareth this day."

Then said Saul to him, "Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, insomuch that thou hast given him victuals and a sword, and hast asked counsel of God for him that he should arise against me and lie await as it is come to pass this day?"

Have I this day begun first to ask counsel of God for him? God forbid that from me: let not the king put such a thing unto his servant and on all the house of my father. For thy servant knoweth nothing of all this, either less or more."

Then said Saul, "Blessed are ye in the LORD: for ye have compassion on me.

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee this day into mine hand, in the cave. When they bade kill thee, mine eye had compassion on thee: and I said, 'I will not lay my hands on my master, for he is the LORD's anointed.'

And moreover my father, see yet the tip of thy coat in my hand. And inasmuch as I killed thee not too, when I cut off the tip of thy coat; understand and see that there is neither evil nor rebelliousness in me, and that I have not sinned against thee. And yet thou huntest after my soul to take it.

and said to David, "Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me with good, and I have rewarded thee with evil.

I have heard say that thou hast shearers. Now the shepherds were with us, and we did them no spite, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel:

Should I take my bread, my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men which I know not whence they be?"

And David said, "In vain have I kept all that this fellow had in the wilderness: so that nought was missed that pertained unto him, for he hath quite me with evil for good.

And moreover when the LORD shall have done to my lord all the good that he hath promised thee, and shall have made thee ruler over Israel:

then shall it be no grudge of conscience unto thee or discourage of heart unto my lord, that thou sheddest blood causeless and didst avenge thyself. And moreover when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then think on thine handmaid."

And so David received of her hand that she brought him, and said to her, "Go in peace to thine house. And see, I have obeyed thy voice and have received thee to grace."

It is not good that thou hast done. As truly as the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have no better kept the LORD's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the cruse of water that were at his head."

And he said thereto, "Wherefore doth my lord persecute his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in mine hand?

Now hear therefore, my lord king, the words of thy servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, he shall smell the savour of sacrifice. But and if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD. For they have cast me out from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, 'Hence and go serve other gods.'

Then said Saul, "I have sinned. Come again, my son David, for I will do thee no more harm; because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool and have erred exceeding much."

And David said unto Achish, "If I have found grace in thine eyes, let me have a place in some town in the fields, that I may dwell there. For what should thy servant dwell in the head city of the kingdom with thee?"

And Achish said, "Have ye not been a roving this day?" And David answered, "Yes, in the south of Judah, and in the south of the Jezreelites, and in the south of the Kenites."

And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou unquieted me, to make me be brought up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore encumbered. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answered me no more, neither by prophets, neither by dreams. And therefore have I called thee, to tell me what I shall do."

And the woman came unto Saul and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, "See, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice and have put my soul in thy hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou saidst unto me.

Then said the lords of the Philistines, "What are yonder Hebrews?" And Achish said unto the lords of the Philistines, "Is not this David the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me days or years? And I have found no fault in him since he fled unto me unto this day."

Then Achish called David and said unto him, "As sure as the LORD liveth thou art honest, and it pleaseth me well that thou shouldest accompany me in the host, for I have found none evil with thee since thou camest to me unto this day. Nevertheless, the lords of the Philistines favour thee not:

And David said again to Achish, "Why, what have I done? And what hast thou found in thy servant as long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?"

Achish answered and said to David, "I know well thou pleasest me, as it were an angel of God. Notwithstanding, the lords of the Philistines have said that thou shalt not go with them to battle.

Wherefore rise up early in the morning, with thy master's servants that are come with thee. And when ye be up early as soon as ye have light, depart."

Then answered all the wicked and the unthrifty of the men that went with David, and said, "Because they went not with us, therefore shall none of the prey that we have recovered be given unto them, save to every man his wife and his children: which let them carry away and be walking."