1 Samuel 10 - 12

Saul Among the Prophets

Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him, and said, “Has not Yahweh anointed you a ruler over His inheritance? 2 When you go from me today, then you will find two men close to Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to search for have been found. Now behold, your father has ceased to be concerned about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ 3 Then you will go on further from there, and you will come as far as the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine; 4 and they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread. And you will take them from their hand. 5 Afterward you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and they will be prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of Yahweh will come upon you mightily, and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man. 7 Now it will be when these signs come to you, do for yourself whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 And you shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and make you know what you should do.” 9 Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart; and all those signs came about on that day. 10 And they came to the hill there, and behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them. 11 Now it happened that all who knew him previously saw, and behold, he was prophesying with the prophets, so the people said to one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12 And a man there answered and said, “Now, who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 Then he finished prophesying and came to the high place. 14 Now Saul’s uncle said to him and his young man, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To look for the donkeys. And we saw that they were not anywhere, so we went to Samuel.” 15 And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 So Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had said.

Saul the King

17 Then Samuel called the people together to Yahweh at Mizpah; 18 and he said to the sons of Israel, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But you have today rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have said, ‘No, but set a king over us!’ So now, take your stand before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans.” 20 Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the Matrite family was taken. And Saul the son of Kish was taken; but they looked for him, and he could not be found. 22 Therefore they inquired further of Yahweh, “Has the man come here yet?” So Yahweh said, “Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.” 23 So they ran and took him from there, and he stood among the people. And he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!” 25 Then Samuel spoke with the people about the legal judgments of the kingdom and wrote them in the book and placed it before Yahweh. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house. 26 Saul also went to his house at Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him. 27 But certain vile men said, “How can this one save us?” And they despised him and did not bring him any present. But he kept silent.

Saul Strikes Down the Ammonites

And Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Cut a covenant with us, and we will serve you.” 2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “I will cut it with you on this condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it a reproach on all Israel.” 3 Then the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Let us alone for seven days, that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.” 4 Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 Now behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and he said, “What is the matter with the people that they weep?” So they recounted to him the words of the men of Jabesh. 6 Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and he burned with anger exceedingly. 7 Then he took a pair of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” Then the dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out as one man. 8 And he numbered them in Bezek; and the sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000. 9 And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have salvation.’” So the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10 Then the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good in your eyes.” 11 Then the next morning Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp at the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. 12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is he that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” 13 But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today Yahweh has accomplished salvation in Israel.” 14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before Yahweh in Gilgal. There they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh; and there Saul and all the men of Israel were exceedingly glad.

Samuel Speaks to Israel

Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and I have appointed a king over you. 2 So now, here is the king walking before you, but I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my youth even to this day. 3 Here I am; bear witness against me before Yahweh and His anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you.” 4 And they said, “You have not extorted us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” 5 So he said to them, “Yahweh is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day that you have found nothing in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.” 6 Then Samuel said to the people, “It is Yahweh who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. 7 So now, take your stand, that I may judge you before Yahweh concerning all the righteous acts of Yahweh which He did for you and your fathers. 8 When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to Yahweh, then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. 9 But they forgot Yahweh their God, so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 10 And they cried out to Yahweh and said, ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken Yahweh and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ 11 Then Yahweh sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security. 12 But you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, and you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although Yahweh your God was your king. 13 So now, behold, the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, Yahweh has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear Yahweh and serve Him and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of Yahweh, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow Yahweh your God. 15 But if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against the command of Yahweh, then the hand of Yahweh will be against you, as it was against your fathers. 16 Even now, take your stand and see this great thing which Yahweh will do before your eyes. 17 Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to Yahweh, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the eyes of Yahweh by asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called to Yahweh, and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel. 19 Then all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following Yahweh, but serve Yahweh with all your heart. 21 And you must not turn aside, for then you would go after meaningless things which cannot profit and cannot deliver, because they are meaningless. 22 For Yahweh will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because Yahweh has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and upright way. 24 Only fear Yahweh and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for see what great things He has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.”

Hebrews 6

Warning Against Falling Away

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of teaching about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits. 4 For in the case of those once having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and having fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is unfit and close to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

The Inheritance of the Promises

9 But we are convinced about you, beloved, of things that are better and that belong to salvation, though we are speaking in this way. 10 For God is not unrighteous so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and continuing to minister to the saints. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not become dull, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply you.” 15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and confirmed and one which enters within the veil, 20 where a forerunner has entered for us—Jesus, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Proverbs 14

The wise woman builds her house,

But the woman of folly tears it down with her own hands.

He who walks in his uprightness fears Yahweh,

But he who is devious in his ways despises Him.

In the mouth of the ignorant fool is a rod of lofty pride,

But the lips of the wise will keep them.

Where no oxen are, the manger is clean,

But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.

A faithful witness will not lie,

But a false witness breathes out lies.

A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none,

But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.

Leave the presence of a fool,

As you have not known lips of knowledge there.

The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way,

But the folly of fools is deceit.

Ignorant fools scoff at guilt,

But among the upright there is favor.

The heart knows its own bitterness,

And a stranger does not share its gladness.

The house of the wicked will be destroyed,

But the tent of the upright will flourish.

There is a way which seems right to a man,

But its end is the way of death.

Even in laughter the heart may be in pain,

And the end of joy may be grief.

The one who turns back in his heart will be satisfied with his ways,

But a good man will be satisfied with his.

The simple believes everything,

But the prudent one discerns his steps.

A wise man fears and turns away from evil,

But a fool gets angry and feels secure.

A quick‑tempered man acts in folly,

And a man of evil schemes is hated.

The simple inherit folly,

But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

The evil will bow down before the good,

And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

The poor is hated even by his neighbor,

But those who love the rich are many.

He who despises his neighbor sins,

But how blessed is he who is gracious to the poor.

Will they not wander in error who devise evil?

But lovingkindness and truth will be to those who devise good.

In all painful labor there is profit,

But mere words from the lips lead only to want.

The crown of the wise is their riches,

But the folly of fools is folly.

A truthful witness delivers souls,

But he who breathes out lies is deceitful.

In the fear of Yahweh there is strong security,

And his children will have refuge.

The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life,

To turn aside from the snares of death.

In a multitude of people is a king’s splendor,

But in the dearth of people is a prince’s ruin.

He who is slow to anger has great discernment,

But he who is quick‑tempered raises up folly.

A tranquil heart is life to the body,

But jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker,

But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.

The wicked is thrust down by his own evil,

But the righteous takes refuge even in his death.

Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding,

But in the midst of fools it is merely made known.

Righteousness exalts a nation,

But sin is a disgrace to any people.

The king’s favor is toward a servant who acts insightfully,

But his fury is toward him who acts shamefully.