Study Desk

"Now then, please let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant. If the LORD has incited you against me, may He accept an offering; but if it is people, cursed are they before the LORD, because they have driven me out today so that I would have no share in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, 'Go, serve other gods.'

Then Saul immediately fell full length to the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel's words; there was no strength in him either, because he had eaten no food all day and all night.

The woman came to Saul and saw that he was utterly horrified, and she said to him, "Behold, your servant has obeyed you, and I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to your words which you spoke to me.

In accordance with all these words and all of this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

"Now then, Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are truth; and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.

Then go to the king and speak to him in this way." So Joab put the words in her mouth.

So the king said, "Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?" And the woman replied, "As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. Indeed, it was your servant Joab who commanded me, and it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant.

But the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "We have ten parts in the king, therefore we also have more claim on David than you. Why then did you treat us with contempt? Was it not our advice first to bring back our king?" Yet the words of the men of Judah were harsher than the words of the men of Israel.

So he approached her, and the woman said, "Are you Joab?" And he answered, "I am." Then she said to him, "Listen to the words of your slave." And he said, "I am listening."

Now David spoke the words of this song to the LORD on the day that the LORD had saved him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, The man who was raised on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob And the sweet psalmist of Israel, declares,

"Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words."

behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.

When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he greatly rejoiced; and he said, "Blessed be the LORD today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people."

"Now then, God of Israel, let Your words, please, be confirmed, which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David.

"And may these words of mine, with which I have implored the favor of the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He will maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires,

Then she said to the king, "It was a true story that I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

Then they spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant them their request, and speak pleasant words to them, then they will be your servants always."

Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they reported to their father.

Yet it came about, when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently.