He stayed seven days, according to the time set by Samuel: but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.

Saul said, "Bring here the burnt offering to me, and the peace offerings." He offered the burnt offering.

Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash;

therefore I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down on me to Gilgal, and I haven't entreated the favor of the LORD.' I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering."

Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you; for now the LORD would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, "Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears";

yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the plowshares, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to set the goads.

Now it fell on a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, "Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on the other side." But he did not tell his father.

Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side, and a rocky crag on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.

Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, "Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us; for there is no restraint on the LORD to save by many or by few."

His armor bearer said to him, ?Do all that your heart inclines toward. Behold, I am with you, my heart is as your heart."

Then Jonathan said, "Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will reveal ourselves to them.

Both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, "Behold, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they had hidden themselves."

The men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, "Come up to us, and we will show you something." Jonathan said to his armor bearer, "Come up after me; for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel."

Then Saul said to the people who were with him, "Count now, and see who is missing from us." When they had counted, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.

And Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring near the ephod." For he wore the ephod at that time in Israel.

It happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the tumult that was in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand."

Then one of the people answered, and said, "Your father directly commanded the people with an oath, saying, 'Cursed is the man who eats food this day.'" The people were faint.

Then Jonathan said, "My father has troubled the land. Please look how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.

Then they told Saul, saying, "Behold, the people are sinning against the LORD, in that they eat meat with the blood." He said, "You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone to me this day."

Saul said, "Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell them, 'Bring me here every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat; and do not sin against the LORD in eating meat with the blood.'" All the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and killed them there.

Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them." They said, "Do whatever seems good to you." Then the priest said, "Let us draw near here to God."

And Saul said, "Come here, all you leaders of the people; and investigate and see how this sin has arisen today.

Then he said to all Israel, "You be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side." The people said to Saul, "Do what seems good to you."

Therefore Saul said, ?LORD, God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this sin is mine or in Jonathan my son, LORD, God of Israel, give Urim. But if this sin is in your people Israel, give Thummim.? And Jonathan and Saul were chosen, but the people were cleared.

And Saul said, ?Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. Whomever the LORD shall indicate to be taken by lot, let him die.? And the people said to Saul, ?This thing is not to be done.? And Saul prevailed over the people, and they cast lots between him and Jonathan his son. And Jonathan was selected.

Then Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." Jonathan told him, and said, "I certainly did taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and behold, I must die."

Saul said, "God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan."

The people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it. As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day." So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the king of Zobah, and against the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he put to the worse.

Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the words of the LORD.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.

Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal." And Samuel came to Saul, and he was offering up a burnt offering to the LORD, the best of the spoils which he had brought from Amalek.

And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, "You are blessed by the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD."

Samuel said, "Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?"

Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to the LORD your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest."

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stay, and I will tell you what the LORD has said to me last night." He said to him, "Say on."

Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own sight, weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel;

and the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until you have destroyed them.'

Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but took the spoils, and did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

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

Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel."

Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

Then he said, "I have sinned: yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God."

Then Samuel said, "Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites." Agag came to him with faltering steps. Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past."

Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women." Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons."

Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." The LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.

And Samuel did what the LORD said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came to meet him trembling. And they said, "Do you come peaceably?"

He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." He sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

It happened, when they had come, that he looked at Eliab, and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before him."

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him. For man does not see as God sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these."

Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your children here?" He said, "There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is keeping the sheep." Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him; for we will not sit down until he comes here."

And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him, for he is the one."

Saul's servants said to him, "See now, an evil spirit from God troubles you.

Saul said to his servants, "Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me."

Then one of the young men answered, and said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a comely person; and the LORD is with him."

Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me David your son, who is with the sheep."

Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me; for he has found favor in my sight."

Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.

The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.

He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, "Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.

The Philistine said, "I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together."

Jesse said to David his son, "Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers;

The men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? He has surely come up to defy Israel. It shall be, that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house exempt in Israel."

Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, "Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle."

David said, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"

David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."

Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."

David said to Saul, "Your servant was keeping his father's sheep; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb out of the flock,

David said, "The LORD who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go; and the LORD shall be with you."

David strapped his sword on his clothing, and he tried to move; for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, "I can't go with these; for I have not tested them." David took them off.

The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" The Philistine cursed David by his gods.

The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field."

Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell."

The king said, "Inquire whose son the young man is."

Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, you young man?" David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

The women sang one to another as they played, and said, "Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands."

Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?"

and Saul threw the spear; for he said, "I will pin David even to the wall." David escaped from his presence twice.

Saul said to David, "Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD's battles." For Saul said, "Do not let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him."

David said to Saul, "Who am I, and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?"

Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, "You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time."

Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, "Does it seems to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?"

Saul said, "You shall tell David, 'The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies.'" Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Do not let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you;

An evil spirit from the LORD was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.

When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick."

Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped?" Michal answered Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go. Why should I kill you?'"

Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" One said, "Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah."

David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"

He said to him, "Far from it; you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so."