The Lord Rejects Saul as King

15 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint^(A) you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. ² This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites^(B) for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. ³ Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally^(C) destroy^[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

⁴ So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. ⁵ Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. ⁶ Then he said to the Kenites,^(D) “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

⁷ Then Saul attacked the Amalekites^(E) all the way from Havilah to Shur,^(F) near the eastern border of Egypt. ⁸ He took Agag^(G) king of the Amalekites alive,^(H) and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the army spared^(I) Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves^[b] and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

¹⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹ “I regret^(J) that I have made Saul king, because he has turned^(K) away from me and has not carried out my instructions.”^(L) Samuel was angry,^(M) and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

¹² Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel.^(N) There he has set up a monument^(O) in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

¹³ When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

¹⁴ But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

¹⁵ Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

¹⁶ “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

¹⁷ Samuel said, “Although you were once small^(P) in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ ¹⁹ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder^(Q) and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

²⁰ “But I did obey^(R) the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. ²¹ The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

²² But Samuel replied:

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned.^(V) I violated^(W) the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid^(X) of the men and so I gave in to them. ²⁵ Now I beg you, forgive^(Y) my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

²⁶ But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected^(Z) the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”

²⁷ As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe,^(AA) and it tore.^{(AB) 28} Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn^(AC) the kingdom^(AD) of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.^{(AE) 29} He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie^(AF) or change^(AG) his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

³⁰ Saul replied, “I have sinned.^(AH) But please honor^(AI) me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” ³¹ So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”

Agag came to him in chains.^[c] And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

³³ But Samuel said,

And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel left for Ramah,^(AK) but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah^(AL) of Saul. ³⁵ Until the day Samuel^(AM) died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned^(AN) for him. And the Lord regretted^(AO) that he had made Saul king over Israel.

1 The vision^(A) concerning Judah and Jerusalem^(B) that Isaiah son of Amoz saw^(C) during the reigns of Uzziah,^(D) Jotham,^(E) Ahaz^(F) and Hezekiah,^(G) kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King^(A)(B)

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,^(C) Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴ This took place to fulfill^(D) what was spoken through the prophet:

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks^(F) on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹ The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet^(J) from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus at the Temple^(K)

¹² Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying^(L) and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers^(M) and the benches of those selling doves.^{(N) 13} “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’^[e](O) but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’^[f]”^(P)

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.^{(Q) 15} But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,”^(R) they were indignant.^(S)

¹⁶ “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

¹⁷ And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany,^(U) where he spent the night.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree^(V)

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.^(W)

²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt,^(X) not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for^(Y) in prayer.”

The Authority of Jesus Questioned^(Z)

²³ Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority^(AA) are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵ John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”^(AB)

²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’^(AC)

²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors^(AD) and the prostitutes^(AE) are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness,^(AF) and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors^(AG) and the prostitutes^(AH) did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent^(AI) and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants^(AJ)

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted^(AK) a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.^(AL) Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.^{(AM) 34} When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants^(AN) to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^{(AO) 36} Then he sent other servants^(AP) to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.^(AQ) Come, let’s kill him^(AR) and take his inheritance.’^{(AS) 39} So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,”^(AT) they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,^(AU) who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you^(AW) and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”^[i](AX)

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.^(AY)