Study Desk

Then at the break of dawn Samuel called to Saul upon the roof, "Get up, so that I may send you on your way." Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

So they inquired again of the Lord , "Did the man come here?" and the Lord said, "See, he has hidden himself among the baggage."

Now Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen; and Saul said, "What is the matter with the people, that they are weeping?" So they told him the message from the inhabitants of Jabesh.

He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by messengers, saying, "Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!" Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one.

So the inhabitants of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you."

The next day Saul put the people in three companies. At the morning watch they came into the camp and cut down the Ammonites until the heat of the day; and those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

The people said to Samuel, "Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?' Give them to us so that we may put them to death."

So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord , and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.

Now therefore take your stand, so that I may enter into judgment with you before the Lord , and I will declare to you all the saving deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your ancestors.

So Samuel called upon the Lord , and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

All the people said to Samuel, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants, so that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of demanding a king for ourselves."

So Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the offerings of well-being." And he offered the burnt offering.

I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the Lord '; so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering."

so all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, or sickles;

So on the day of the battle neither sword nor spear was to be found in the possession of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

His armor-bearer said to him, "Do all that your mind inclines to. I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine."

So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines; and the Philistines said, "Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves."

Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and went into the battle; and every sword was against the other, so that there was very great confusion.

So the Lord gave Israel the victory that day. The battle passed beyond Beth-aven, and the troops with Saul numbered altogether about ten thousand men. The battle spread out over the hill country of Ephraim.

Now Saul committed a very rash act on that day. He had laid an oath on the troops, saying, "Cursed be anyone who eats food before it is evening and I have been avenged on my enemies." So none of the troops tasted food.