1 Samuel 10-12

Complete Jewish Bible

10 Then Sh’mu’el took a flask of oil he had prepared and poured it on Sha’ul’s head. He kissed him and said, “Adonai has anointed you to be prince over his inheritance. ² After you leave me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s Tomb, in the territory of Binyamin at Tzeltzah. They will tell you that the donkeys you were searching for have been found, and that your father has stopped thinking about the donkeys and is anxious over you and asking, ‘What am I to do about my son?’” ³ Go on from there, and you will come to the Oak of Tavor. Three men will meet you there on their way up to God at Beit-El. One of them will be carrying three kids, another three loaves of bread and the third a skin of wine. ⁴ They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you are to accept from them. ⁵ After that, you will come to Giv‘ah of God, where the P’lishtim are garrisoned. On arrival at the city there, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place, preceded by lutes, tambourines, flutes and lyres; and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then the Spirit of Adonai will fall on you; you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man! ⁷ When these signs come over you, just do whatever you feel like doing, because God is with you. ⁸ Then you are to go down ahead of me to Gilgal, and there I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and present sacrifices as peace offerings. Wait there seven days, until I come to you and tell you what to do.”

⁹ As it happened, as soon as he had turned his back to leave Sh’mu’el, God gave him another heart; and all those signs took place that day. ¹⁰ When they arrived at the hill, and there in front of him was a group of prophets, the Spirit of God fell on him and he prophesied along with them. ¹¹ When those who knew him from before saw him there, prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What’s happened to Kish’s son? Is Sha’ul a prophet, too?” ¹² Someone in the crowd answered, “Must prophets’ fathers be special?” So it became an expression — “Is Sha’ul a prophet, too?”

¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he arrived at the high place. ¹⁴ Sha’ul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?” He answered, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they hadn’t been found, we went to Sh’mu’el.” ¹⁵ “Tell me, please,” said Sha’ul’s uncle, “what Sh’mu’el said to you.” ¹⁶ Sha’ul answered his uncle, “He told us that the donkeys had been found,” but said nothing to him about the matter of his being made king.

¹⁷ Sh’mu’el summoned the people to Adonai in Mitzpah. ¹⁸ He said to the people of Isra’el, “Here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says: ‘I brought Isra’el up from Egypt. I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ ¹⁹ But today you have rejected your God, who himself saves you from all your disasters and distress. You have said to him, ‘No! Put a king over us!’ So now, present yourselves before Adonai by your tribes and families.” ²⁰ So Sh’mu’el had all the tribes come forward, and the tribe of Binyamin was chosen. ²¹ He had the tribe of Binyamin come forward by families, and the family of the Matri was chosen, and Sha’ul the son of Kish was chosen. But when they looked for him, he couldn’t be found. ²² They asked Adonai, “Has the man come here?” Adonai answered, “There he is, hiding, in among the equipment.” ²³ They ran and brought him from there, and when he stood among the people he was head and shoulders taller than anyone around. ²⁴ Sh’mu’el said to all the people, “Do you see the man Adonai has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?” Then all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

²⁵ Sh’mu’el told the people what kinds of rulings should be made in the kingdom, then wrote it on a scroll and set it down before Adonai. After that, he sent all the people away, everyone to his own home. ²⁶ Sha’ul too went home to Giv‘ah, accompanied by warriors whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ True, there were some scoundrels who said, “How can this man save us?” They showed him no respect and brought him no gift, but he held his peace.

11 Then Nachash the ‘Amoni came up and set up camp to fight Yavesh-Gil‘ad. All the men of Yavesh said to Nachash, “If you will make a treaty with us, we will be your subjects.” ² Nachash the ‘Amoni replied, “I’ll do it on this condition: that all your right eyes be gouged out and thus bring disgrace on all of Isra’el.” ³ The leaders of Yavesh answered him, “Give us seven days’ grace to send messengers throughout Isra’el’s territory; then, if no one will rescue us, we will surrender to you.”

⁴ The messengers came to Giv‘ah, where Sha’ul lived, and said these words in the hearing of the people; and all the people cried out and wept. ⁵ As this was going on, Sha’ul came, following the oxen out of the field. Sha’ul asked, “What’s wrong with the people to make them cry like that?” They told him what the men from Yavesh had said. ⁶ The Spirit of God fell on Sha’ul when he heard this; blazing furiously with anger, ⁷ he seized a pair of oxen and cut them in pieces; then he sent them throughout the territory of Isra’el with messengers saying, “Anyone who doesn’t come and follow Sha’ul and Sh’mu’el, this is what will be done to his oxen!” The fear of Adonai fell on the people, and they came out with united hearts. ⁸ He reviewed them in Bezek; there were 300,000 from the people of Isra’el; the men of Y’hudah numbered 30,000. ⁹ To the messengers that had come they said, “Tell the men of Yavesh-Gil‘ad, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have been rescued.’” The messengers returned and told the men of Yavesh; they were overjoyed. ¹⁰ Then the men of Yavesh said [to Nachash], “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do with us whatever you like.”

¹¹ The next day Sha’ul divided the people into three companies. Then they entered the camp of the ‘Amoni during the morning watch and kept attacking until the heat of the day, until those who remained were so scattered that no two of them were left together. ¹² The people said to Sh’mu’el, “Who are the men who said, ‘Is Sha’ul to rule over us?’ Hand them over to us, so we can put them to death.” ¹³ But Sha’ul said, “No one will be put to death today, because today Adonai has rescued Isra’el.”

¹⁴ Then Sh’mu’el said to the people, “Come, let’s go to Gilgal and inaugurate the kingship there. ¹⁵ So all the people went to Gilgal; and there in Gilgal, before Adonai, they made Sha’ul king. They presented sacrifices as peace offerings before Adonai there, and there Sha’ul and all the people of Isra’el celebrated with great joy.

12 Sh’mu’el said to all Isra’el, “Here, I have done everything you asked me to do — I have made a king over you. ² There is the king, walking ahead of you; but I am old and gray-headed. There are my sons with you, and I have walked at your head from when I was a boy until today. ³ So here I am; now is the time to witness against me before Adonai and before his anointed king. Does any of you think I have taken your ox or donkey, defrauded or oppressed you, or accepted a bribe to deprive you of justice? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.” ⁴ They answered, “You haven’t defrauded or oppressed us, and you have accepted nothing from anyone.” ⁵ He said, “Adonai is witness against you, and his anointed king is witness against you today, that you have found nothing in my hands?” They replied, “He is witness.”

⁶ Sh’mu’el said to the people, “It was Adonai who appointed Moshe and Aharon and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt. ⁷ Now, hold still; because I am going to enter into judgment with you before Adonai regarding all the righteous acts of Adonai that he did for you and your ancestors.

⁸ “After Ya‘akov had entered Egypt, your ancestors cried to Adonai; and Adonai sent Moshe and Aharon, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and had them live here in this place. ⁹ But they forgot Adonai their God; so he handed them over to Sisra, commander of the army of Hatzor, and to the P’lishtim, and to the king of Mo’av; and they fought against them. ¹⁰ But they cried to Adonai and said, ‘We sinned by abandoning Adonai and serving the ba‘alim and ‘ashtarot. But now, if you rescue us from the power of our enemies, we will serve you.’ ¹¹ So Adonai sent Yeruba‘al, B’dan, Yiftach and Sh’mu’el and rescued you from the power of our enemies on every side, and you lived securely. ¹² When you saw that Nachash the king of the people of ‘Amon was attacking you, you said to me, “No, we want a king to rule over us” — when Adonai your God was your king. ¹³ Now, here’s the king you have chosen, the one you asked for. See, Adonai has put a king over you. ¹⁴ If you will fear Adonai, serve him, obey what he says and not rebel against Adonai’s orders — if both you and the king ruling you remain followers of Adonai your God — [then things will go well for you.] ¹⁵ But if you refuse to obey what Adonai says and rebel against Adonai’s orders, then Adonai will oppress both you and your leaders.

¹⁶ “Now therefore, hold still; and see the great deed which Adonai will perform before your very eyes. ¹⁷ Now is wheat harvest time, isn’t it? I am going to call on Adonai to send thunder and rain. Then you will understand and see how wicked from Adonai’s viewpoint is the thing you have done in asking for a king.” ¹⁸ Sh’mu’el called to Adonai, and Adonai sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people became very much afraid of Adonai and Sh’mu’el. ¹⁹ All the people said to Sh’mu’el, “Pray to Adonai your God for your servants, so that we won’t die; because to all our other sins now we’ve added this evil as well, asking for a king over us.” ²⁰ Sh’mu’el answered the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil; yet now, just don’t turn away from following Adonai; but serve Adonai with all your heart. ²¹ Don’t turn to the side; because then you would go after useless things that can neither help nor rescue, they are so futile. ²² For the sake of his great reputation, Adonai will not abandon his people; because it has pleased Adonai to make you a people for himself. ²³ As for me, far be it from me to sin against Adonai by ceasing to pray for you! Rather, I will continue instructing you in the good and right way. ²⁴ Only fear Adonai, and serve him faithfully with all your heart; for think what great things he has done for you! ²⁵ However, if you insist on doing wicked things, you will be swept away — both you and your king!”