but Hannah did not go up with them.<n id="1" /> Instead she told her husband, &#8220;Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him and appear before the <sc>Lordsc>, and he will remain there from then on.&#8221;p>

He said to them, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> is witness against you, and his chosen king<n id="1" /> is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.&#8221;<n id="2" /> They said, &#8220;He is witness!&#8221;p>

Saul proceeded to the city<n id="1" /> of Amalek, where he set an ambush<n id="2" /> in the wadi.<n id="3" />

So he<n id="1" /> said to her, &#8220;How often do you intend to get drunk? Put away your wine!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food,p> <p class="poetry">but the hungry no longer lack.p> <p class="poetry">Even<n id="1" /> the barren woman gives birth to seven,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">but the one with many children withers away.<n id="3" />p>

With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the <sc>Lordsc> is the witness between us forever!&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Jonathan replied to Saul, &#8220;David urgently requested that he be allowed to go to Bethlehem.

<p class="bodytext">From that time onward it was a binding ordinance<n id="1" /> for Israel, right up to the present time.p>

<p class="bodytext">So her husband Elkanah said to her, &#8220;Do what you think best.<n id="1" /> Stay until you have weaned him. May the <sc>Lordsc> fulfill his promise.&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="bodytext">So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

<p class="bodytext">When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time<n id="1" /> and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing<n id="2" /> until morning&#8217;s light.

Don&#8217;t consider your servant a wicked woman,<n id="1" /> for until now I have spoken from my deep pain and anguish.&#8221;p>

Therefore I swore an oath to the house of Eli, &#8216;The sin of the house of Eli can never be forgiven by sacrifice or by grain offering.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s house. But Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.

(For this reason, to this very day, neither Dagon&#8217;s priests nor anyone else who enters Dagon&#8217;s temple step on Dagon&#8217;s threshold in Ashdod.)p>

Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.p>

(Now it used to be in Israel that whenever someone went to inquire of God he would say, &#8220;Come on, let&#8217;s go to the seer.&#8221; For today&#8217;s prophet used to be called a seer.)

Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day.

If they say to us, &#8216;Stay put until we approach you,&#8217; we will stay<n id="1" /> right there and not go up to them.

<p class="bodytext">Saul and all the army that was with him assembled and marched into battle, where they found<n id="1" /> the Philistines in total panic killing one another with their swords.<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> sent you on a campaign<n id="1" /> saying, &#8216;Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you<n id="2" /> have destroyed them.&#8217;