This man went up from his city each year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests to the Lord there.

So it happened year after year, whenever she went up to the house of the Lord, Peninnah provoked her; so she wept and would not eat.

Hannah said, “Let your maidservant find grace and favor in your sight.” So the woman went on her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

Then the man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow.

He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call you; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.

Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.”

So the Lord called Samuel a third time. And he stood and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli understood that it was the Lord [who was] calling the boy.

So Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and it shall be that if He calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

And the word of [the Lord through] Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and they camped beside Ebenezer while the Philistines camped at Aphek.

The men who had not died were stricken with tumors and the cry of the city [for help] went up to heaven.

And the cows went straight toward Beth-shemesh along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn away to the right or the left. And the Philistine lords (governors) followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

Now when the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the lords (governors) of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the Israelites heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

And the men of Israel came out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as [the territory] below Beth-car.

He used to go annually on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places.

And they passed through the hill country of Ephraim and the land of Shalishah, but did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there and the land of the Benjamites, but they [still] did not find them.

(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is called a prophet today was formerly called a seer.)

Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was living.

As they went up the hill to the city, they met some young women going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer (prophet) here?”

So they went up to the city. And as they came into the city, there was Samuel coming out toward them to go up to the high place.

They got up early [the next day]; and at dawn Samuel called Saul [who was sleeping] on the roof, saying, “Get up, so that I may send you on your way.” Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went outside.

When Saul had finished prophesying, he went to the high place [of worship].

Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And Saul said, “To look for the donkeys. And when we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel [for help].”

Saul also went home to Gibeah; and the brave men whose hearts God had touched went with him.

Now Nahash the Ammonite [king] went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty [of peace] with us and we will serve you.”

So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they also sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel finally came; Saul went out to meet and to welcome him.

Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul assembled and counted the people who were still with him, [only] about six hundred [fighting] men.

And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass at Michmash.

Saul’s watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude melted away and they went here and there.

Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and went into the battle; and behold, every [Philistine] man’s sword was against his companion, in wild confusion.

Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines previously, who went up with them all around in the camp, they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

When all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, they too pursued them closely in the battle.

Therefore, Saul said to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Give a perfect lot [identifying the transgressor].” Then Saul and Jonathan were selected [by lot], but the other men went free.

Then Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.

When Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul, he was told, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up for himself a monument [commemorating his victory], then he turned and went on and went down to Gilgal.”

Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

Then a champion came out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

The [wooden] shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; the blade-head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And a shield-bearer walked in front of him.

but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s flock at Bethlehem.

So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, picked up the provisions and went just as Jesse had directed him. And he came to the encampment as the army was going out in battle formation shouting the battle cry.

I went out after it and attacked it and rescued the lamb from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I seized it by its whiskers and struck and killed it.

So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he acted wisely and prospered; and Saul appointed him over the men of war. And it pleased all the people and also Saul’s servants.

So Saul had David removed from his presence and appointed him as his commander of a thousand; and he publicly associated with the people.

But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he publicly associated with them.

David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred Philistine men, and David brought their foreskins [as proof of death] and presented every one of them to the king, so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michal, his [younger] daughter, as a wife.

Then there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him.

So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him everything that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.

Then Saul went to Ramah himself and came to the great well that is in Secu; and he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And he was told, “They are at Naioth [with the prophets] in Ramah.”

So he went on to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him too, and he went along continually prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field [to talk].” So they went out to the field.

In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the meeting with David, and a young boy was with him.

Then David went to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling [in fear] to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?”

Then David arose and fled from Saul that day, and went to Achish king of Gath.

So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard about it, they went down there to him.

And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come [out of Judah] and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; leave, and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went into the forest of Hereth.

So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines; he drove away their cattle and struck them with a great slaughter. So David rescued the inhabitants of Keilah.

And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went [into the woods] to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God.

So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord; and David stayed [in the woods] at Horesh and Jonathan went to his house.

So they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon.

Then Saul and his men went to search for him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed [there] in the Wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard it, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon.

Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men to capture them.

So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines; therefore they called that place the Rock of Escape.

David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of Engedi.

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to search for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

On the way he came to the sheepfolds where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the cave’s innermost recesses.

So David strongly rebuked his men with these words and did not let them rise up against Saul. Saul got up, left the cave and went on his way.

Then David also got up afterward and went out of the cave and called after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground and lay himself face down.

David gave Saul his oath; and Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the mountain stronghold.

Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him at his house in Ramah. Then David left and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

David said to his men, “Each man put on your sword.” So each man put on his sword. David also put on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed back with the provisions and supplies.

But David’s men were very good to us, and we were not harmed or treated badly, nor did we miss anything as long as we were with them, when we were in the fields.

Then Abigail quickly got up, and rode on a donkey, with five of her maidens who attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

So Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, taking with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David [there] in the wilderness of Ziph.

So David and Abishai went to the army during the night, and there was Saul lying asleep inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head; and Abner and the people were lying around him.

Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on the top of the mountain at a distance, with a large area between them.

Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, my son David; you will both accomplish much and certainly prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

So David and the six hundred men who were with him arose and crossed over to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites [the enemies of Israel that Joshua had failed to annihilate]; for they had inhabited the land from ancient times, as one comes to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt.

So Saul disguised himself by wearing different clothes, and he left with two men, and they came to the woman at night. He said to her, “Conjure up for me, please, and bring up [from the dead] for me [the spirit] whom I shall name to you.”

She brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and went away that night.

So David and his men got up early to leave in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel [to fight against Israel].

and they had taken captive the women [and all] who were there, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off [to be used as slaves] and went on their way.

So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor; there those [who could not continue] remained behind.

Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will give them none of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may take his wife and children away and leave.”

The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was severely wounded by the archers.

all the brave men stood and walked all night, and they took the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and cremated them there.