And a man of God came to Eli and said to him, The Lord says, Did I let myself be seen by your father's people when they were in Egypt, servants in Pharaoh's house?

See, the days are coming when your arm and the arm of your father's people will be cut off;

And at that time, when Eli was resting in his place, (now his eyes were becoming clouded so that he was not able to see,)

And the Lord said to Samuel, See, I will do a thing in Israel at which the ears of everyone hearing of it will be burning.

And the Lord was seen again in Shiloh; for the Lord gave to Samuel in Shiloh the revelation of his word.

And the Philistines, full of fear, said, God has come into their tents. And they said, Trouble is ours! for never before has such a thing been seen.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed so that he was not able to see.

And the five lords of the Philistines, having seen it, went back to Ekron the same day.

And said to him, See now, you are old, and your sons do not go in your ways: give us a king now to be our judge, so that we may be like the other nations.

He will take a tenth of your seed and of the fruit of your vines and give it to his servants.

But the servant said to him, See now, in this town there is a man of God, who is highly honoured, and everything he says comes true: let us go there now; it may be that he will give us directions about our journey.

(In the past in Israel, when a man went to get directions from God, he said, Come let us go to the Seer, for he who now is named Prophet was in those days given the name of Seer.)

And when they were on the way up to the town, they saw some young girls going out to get water and said to them, Is the seer here?

When you come into the town you will see him straight away, before he goes up to the high place for the feast: the people are waiting for his blessing before starting the feast, and after that the guests will take part in it. So go up now and you will see him.

Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and on him you are to put the holy oil, making him ruler over my people Israel, and he will make my people safe from the hands of the Philistines: for I have seen the sorrow of my people, whose cry has come up to me.

Then Saul came up to Samuel in the doorway of the town and said, Give me directions, if you will be so good, to the house of the seer.

Then Samuel said to Saul, I am the seer; go up before me to the high place and take food with me today: and in the morning I will let you go, after opening to you all the secrets of your heart.

When you have gone away from me today, you will see two men by the resting-place of Rachel's body, in the land of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, The asses which you went in search of have come back, and now your father, caring no longer for the asses, is troubled about you, saying, What am I to do about my son?

Then you are to go on from there, and when you come to the oak-tree of Tabor, you will see three men going up to God to Beth-el, one having with him three young goats and another three cakes of bread and another a skin full of wine:

After that you will come to Gibeah, the hill of God, where an armed force of the Philistines is stationed: and when you come to the town, you will see a band of prophets coming down from the high place with instruments of music before them; and they will be acting like prophets:

And when these signs come to you, see that you take the chance which is offered you; for God is with you.

Then he made the tribe of Benjamin come near by families, and the family of the Matrites was taken: and from them, Saul, the son of Kish, was taken: but when they went in search of him he was nowhere to be seen.

And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see the man of the Lord's selection, how there is no other like him among all the people? And all the people with loud cries said, Long life to the king!

And Samuel said to all Israel, You see that I have given ear to everything you said to me, and have made a king over you.

And now, see, the king is before you: and I am old and grey-headed, and my sons are with you: I have been living before your eyes from my early days till now.

Then he said, The Lord is witness against you, and the man on whom he has put the holy oil is witness this day that you have seen no wrong in me. And they said, He is witness.

Now keep where you are and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes.

Is it not now the time of the grain cutting? My cry will go up to the Lord and he will send thunder and rain: so that you may see and be conscious of your great sin which you have done in the eyes of the Lord in desiring a king for yourselves.

And when the burned offering was ended, Samuel came; and Saul went out to see him and to give him a blessing.

So on the day of the fight at Michmash, not a sword or a spear was to be seen in the hands of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan: only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

And his servant said to him, Do whatever is in your mind: see, I am with you in every impulse of your heart.

Then Jonathan said, Now we will go over to these men and let them see us.

And they let the Philistine force see the two of them: and the Philistines said, Look! the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have taken cover.

And the armed men of the force gave Jonathan and his servant their answer, saying, Come up here to us, and we will let you see something. Then Jonathan said to his servant, Come up after me: for the Lord has given them up into the hands of Israel.

Then Saul said to the people who were with him, Let everyone be numbered and let us see who has gone from us. And when they had been numbered, it was seen that Jonathan and his servant were not there.

Then Jonathan said, My father has made trouble come on the land: now see how bright my eyes have become because I have taken a little of this honey.

Then it was said to Saul, See, the people are sinning against the Lord, taking the blood with the flesh. And he said to those who gave him the news, Now let a great stone be rolled to me here.

And Saul said, Come near, all you chiefs of the people, and let us get word from God and see in whom is this sin today.

And Samuel said, Though you may seem little to yourself, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? for the Lord with the holy oil made you king over Israel,

But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not take note of his face or how tall he is, because I will not have him: for the Lord's view is not man's; man takes note of the outer form, but the Lord sees the heart.

And Saul's servants said to him, See now, an evil spirit from God is troubling you.

Then one of the servants in answer said, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Beth-lehemite, who is expert at playing, and a strong man and a man of war; and he is wise in his words, and pleasing in looks, and the Lord is with him.

And take these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers are and come back with a sign to say how they are.

And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man? Clearly he has come out to put shame on Israel: and it is certain that if any man overcomes him, the king will give that man great wealth, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's family free in Israel.

And Eliab, his oldest brother, hearing what David said to the men, was moved to wrath against David, and said, Why have you come here? Into whose care have you given that little flock of sheep in the waste land? I have knowledge of your pride and the evil of your heart, you have come down to see the fight.

This day the Lord will give you up into my hands, and I will overcome you, and take your head off you; and I will give the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth today, so that all the earth may see that Israel has a God;

And all these people who are here today may see that the Lord does not give salvation by sword and spear: for the fight is the Lord's, and he will give you up into our hands.

And the king said, Make search and see whose son this young man is.

And Saul gave his servants orders saying, Have talk with David secretly and say to him, See how the king has delight in you, and how you are loved by all his servants: then be the king's son-in-law.

And Saul's servants said these things to David. And David said, Does it seem to you a small thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, of no great name?

And I will go out and take my place by my father's side in the field near where you are; and I will get into talk with my father about you, and when I see how things are, I will give you word.

And Saul sent his men to see David, saying, Do not come back without him, take him in his bed, so that I may put him to death.

And he said to him, Far be the thought: you will not be put to death: see, my father does nothing, great or small, without giving me word of it: would he keep this secret from me? It is not so.

But David took his oath again and said, Your father sees that I am dear to you; so he says to himself, Let Jonathan have no idea of this, for it will be a grief to him; but as the Lord is living, and as your soul is living, there is only a step between me and death.

Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon: and it will be seen that you are not present, for there will be no one in your seat.

And I will send my boy to have a look for the arrow. And if I say to him, See, the arrow is on this side of you; take it up! then you may come; for there is peace for you and no evil, by the living Lord.

But if I say to the boy, See, the arrow has gone past you: then go on your way, for the Lord has sent you away.

Saying, Our family is making an offering in the town, and my brothers have given me orders to be there: so now, if I have grace in your eyes, let me go away and see my brothers. This is why he has not come to the king's table.

Then Saul was moved to wrath against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of an evil and uncontrolled woman, have I not seen how you have given your love to the son of Jesse, to your shame and the shame of your mother?

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, for we two have taken an oath, in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord will be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed for ever. Then David went away, and Jonathan went into the town.

So changing his behaviour before them, he made it seem as if he was off his head, hammering on the doors of the town, and letting the water from his mouth go down his chin.

And news was given to Saul that David had been seen, and the men who were with him: now Saul was in Gibeah, seated under the tree in the high place, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were in their places before him.

Then the Ziphites came up to Gibeah to see Saul, and said, Is not David living secretly among us in the strong places in Horesh, in the hill of Hachilah to the south of the waste land

Go now, and take more steps, and see where he is living: for they say that he is expert in deceit.

Look! you have seen today how the Lord gave you up into my hands even now in the hollow of the rocks: and some would have had me put you to death, but I had pity on you: for I said, Never will my hand be lifted up against my lord, who has been marked with the holy oil.

And see, my father, see the skirt of your robe in my hand: for the fact that I took off the skirt of your robe and did not put you to death is witness that I have no evil purpose, and I have done you no wrong, though you are waiting for my life to take it.

So let the Lord be judge, and give a decision between me and you, and see and give support to my cause, and keep me from falling into your hands.

So give me your oath by the Lord, that you will not put an end to my seed after me or let my name be cut off from my father's family.

Let my lord give no attention to Nabal, that good-for-nothing: for as his name is, so is he, a man without sense: but I, your servant, did not see the young men whom my lord sent.

And may the sin of your servant have forgiveness: for the Lord will certainly make your family strong, because my lord is fighting in the Lord's war; and no evil will be seen in you all your days.

Then David took from her hands her offering: and he said to her, Go back to your house in peace; see, I have given ear to your voice, and taken your offering with respect.

And she got up, and going down on her face to the earth, said, See, I am ready to be a servant-girl, washing the feet of the servants of my lord.

What you have done is not good. By the living Lord, death is the right fate for you, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the man on whom the Lord has put the holy oil. Now see, where is the king's spear, and the vessel of water which was by his head?

And David said to Achish, You will see now what your servant will do. And Achish said to David, Then I will make you keeper of my head for ever.

So Saul, putting on other clothing, so that he might not be seen to be the king, took two men with him and went to the woman by night; and he said, Now, with the help of the spirit which you have, make the person whose name I will give you come up.

Then the woman said, Who am I to let you see? And he said, Make Samuel come up for me.

And the king said to her, Have no fear: what do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth.

And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was in great trouble, and said to him, See now, your servant has given ear to your words, and I have put my life in danger by doing what you said.

Then the rulers of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish said to the rulers of the Philistines, Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me for a year or two, and I have never seen any wrong in him from the time when he came to me till now?

Then Achish sent for David and said to him, By the living Lord, you are upright, and everything you have done with me in the army has been pleasing to me: I have seen no evil in you from the day when you came to me till now: but still, the lords are not pleased with you.

And David said to Achish, But what have I done? what have you seen in your servant while I have been with you till this day, that I may not go and take up arms against those who are now making war on my lord the king?