From Judges to Kings: Israel's Fateful Choice

1. When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. 3. His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. 4. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah. 5. They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Samuel prayed to Yahweh. 7. Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them. 8. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so they also do to you. 9. Now therefore listen to their voice. However you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them.” 10. Samuel told all Yahweh’s words to the people who asked him for a king. 11. He said, “This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots. 12. He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. 13. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14. He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even their best, and give them to his servants. 15. He will take one tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers, and to his servants. 16. He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work. 17. He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants. 18. You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day.” 19. But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No; but we will have a king over us, 20. that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” 21. Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Yahweh. 22. Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and make them a king.” Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Everyone go to your own city.” 1. Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. 2. He had a son, whose name was Saul, an impressive young man; and there was not among the children of Israel a better person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people. 3. The donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. Kish said to Saul his son, “Take now one of the servants with you, and arise, go look for the donkeys.” 4. He passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they didn’t find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and there they weren’t there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they didn’t find them. 5. When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, and let us return, lest my father stop caring about the donkeys, and be anxious for us.” 6. The servant said to him, “Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says surely happens. Now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us which way to go.” 7. Then Saul said to his servant, “But, behold, if we go, what should we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our sacks, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” 8. The servant answered Saul again, and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.” 9. (In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was before called a seer.) 10. Then Saul said to his servant, “Well said. Come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was. 11. As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?” 12. They answered them, and said, “He is. Behold, he is before you. Hurry now, for he has come today into the city; for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place. 13. As soon as you have come into the city, you will immediately find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he come, because he blesses the sacrifice. Afterwards those who are invited eat. Now therefore go up; for at this time you will find him.” 14. They went up to the city. As they came within the city, behold, Samuel came out toward them, to go up to the high place. 15. Now Yahweh had revealed to Samuel a day before Saul came, saying, 16. “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17. When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh said to him, “Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! He will have authority over my people.” 18. Then Saul approached Samuel in the gateway, and said, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.” 19. Samuel answered Saul, and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you are to eat with me today. In the morning I will let you go, and will tell you all that is in your heart. 20. As for your donkeys who were lost three days ago, don’t set your mind on them; for they have been found. For whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you, and for all your father’s house?” 21. Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me like this?” 22. Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the guest room, and made them sit in the best place among those who were invited, who were about thirty persons. 23. Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Set it aside.’” 24. The cook took up the thigh, and that which was on it, and set it before Saul. Samuel said, “Behold, that which has been reserved! Set it before yourself and eat; because for the appointed time has it been kept for you, for I said, ‘I have invited the people.’” So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25. When they had come down from the high place into the city, he talked with Saul on the housetop. 26. They arose early; and about daybreak, Samuel called to Saul on the housetop, saying, “Get up, that I may send you away.” Saul arose, and they both went outside, he and Samuel, together. 27. As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” He went ahead, then Samuel said, “But stand still first, that I may cause you to hear God’s message.” 1. Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, “Hasn’t Yahweh anointed you to be prince over his inheritance? 2. When you have departed from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will tell you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found; and behold, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys, and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do for my son?”’ 3. “Then you will go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor. Three men will meet you there going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. 4. They will greet you, and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hand. 5. “After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. 6. Then Yahweh’s Spirit will come mightily on you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be turned into another man. 7. Let it be, when these signs have come to you, that you do what is appropriate for the occasion; for God is with you. 8. “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Wait seven days, until I come to you, and show you what you are to do.” 9. It was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs happened that day. 10. When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them. 11. When all who knew him before saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said to one another, “What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12. One of the same place answered, “Who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13. When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. 14. Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” He said, “To seek the donkeys. When we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel.” 15. Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16. Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found.” But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel spoke, he didn’t tell him. 17. Samuel called the people together to Yahweh to Mizpah; 18. and he said to the children of Israel, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 19. But you have today rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, ‘No! Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes, and by your thousands.” 20. So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. 21. He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families; and the family of the Matrites was chosen. Then Saul the son of Kish was chosen; but when they looked for him, he could not be found. 22. Therefore they asked of Yahweh further, “Is there yet a man to come here?” Yahweh answered, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23. They ran and got him there. When he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. 24. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?” All the people shouted, and said, “Long live the king!” 25. Then Samuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Yahweh. Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 26. Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and the army went with him, whose hearts God had touched. 27. But certain worthless fellows said, “How could this man save us?” They despised him, and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

1. For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. 2. Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins? 3. But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins. 4. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 5. Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire, but you prepared a body for me. 6. You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. 7. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’” 8. Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law), 9. then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, 10. by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11. Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, 12. but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13. from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. 14. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 15. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, 16. “This is the covenant that I will make with them: ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;’” then he says, 17. “I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.” 18. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19. Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20. by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21. and having a great priest over God’s house, 22. let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water, 23. let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful. 24. Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25. not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching. 26. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27. but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. 28. A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. 29. How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30. For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me,” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32. But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings; 33. partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so. 34. For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens. 35. Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. 36. For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise. 37. “In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait. 38. But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul. 1. Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. 2. For by this, the elders obtained testimony. 3. By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible. 4. By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks. 5. By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God. 6. Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. 7. By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. 8. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. 9. By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. 10. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11. By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. 12. Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead. 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15. If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return. 16. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17. By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son, 18. to whom it was said, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac”; 19. concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead. 20. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come. 21. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. 22. By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave instructions concerning his bones. 23. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. 24. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25. choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time; 26. accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward. 27. By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28. By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them. 29. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up. 30. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days. 31. By faith, Rahab the prostitute, didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace. 32. What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets; 33. who, through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34. quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee. 35. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36. Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. 37. They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38. (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth. 39. These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise, 40. God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

1. We give thanks to you, God. We give thanks, for your Name is near. Men tell about your wondrous works. 2. When I choose the appointed time, I will judge blamelessly. 3. The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars. Selah. 4. I said to the arrogant, “Don’t boast!” I said to the wicked, “Don’t lift up the horn. 5. Don’t lift up your horn on high. Don’t speak with a stiff neck.” 6. For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the south, comes exaltation. 7. But God is the judge. He puts down one, and lifts up another. 8. For in Yahweh’s hand there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs. 9. But I will declare this forever: I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10. I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.