<p class="bodytext">Samuel replied to Saul, &#8220;I am the seer! Go up in front of me to the high place! Today you will eat with me and in the morning I will send you away. I will tell you everything that you are thinking.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Saul replied, &#8220;Am I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of Israel&#8217;s tribes, and is not my family clan the smallest of all the tribes of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me in this way?&#8221;p>

While they were going down to the edge of town, Samuel said to Saul, &#8220;Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.&#8221; So he did.<n id="1" /> Samuel then said,<n id="2" /> &#8220;You remain here awhile, so I can inform you of God&#8217;s message.&#8221;p>

When everyone who had known him previously saw him prophesying with the prophets, the people all asked one another, &#8220;What on earth has happened to the son of Kish? Does even Saul belong with the prophets?&#8221;p>

Saul said to his uncle, &#8220;He assured us that the donkeys had been found.&#8221; But Saul<n id="1" /> did not tell him what Samuel had said about the matter of kingship.p>

He took a pair<n id="1" /> of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, &#8220;Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!&#8221; Then the terror of the <sc>Lordsc> fell on the people, and they went out as one army.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">The next day Saul placed the people in three groups. They went to the Ammonite camp during the morning watch and struck them<n id="1" /> down until the hottest part of the day. The survivors scattered; no two of them remained together.p>

<p class="bodytext">But Samuel said, &#8220;What have you done?&#8221; Saul replied, &#8220;When I saw that the army had started to abandon me<n id="1" /> and that you didn&#8217;t come at the appointed time and that the Philistines had assembled at Micmash,

<p class="bodytext">Then Samuel said to Saul, &#8220;You have made a foolish choice! You have not obeyed<n id="1" /> the commandment that the <sc>Lordsc> your God gave<n id="2" /> you. Had you done that, the <sc>Lordsc> would have established your kingdom over Israel forever!

Then one day Jonathan son of Saul said to his armor bearer,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Come on, let&#8217;s go over to the Philistine garrison that is opposite us.&#8221; But he did not let his father know.p>

The Hebrews who had earlier gone over to the Philistine side<n id="1" /> joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now the men of Israel were hard pressed that day, for Saul had made the army agree to this oath: &#8220;Cursed be the man who eats food before evening! I will get my vengeance on my enemies!&#8221; So no one in the army ate anything.p>

Then Saul said, &#8220;Scatter out among the army and say to them, &#8216;Each of you bring to me your ox and sheep and slaughter them in this spot and eat. But don&#8217;t sin against the <sc>Lordsc> by eating the blood.&#8221; So that night each one brought his ox and slaughtered it there.<n id="1" />

Saul said, &#8220;Let&#8217;s go down after the Philistines at night; we will rout<n id="1" /> them until the break of day.<n id="2" /> We won&#8217;t leave any of them alive!&#8221;<n id="3" /> They replied, &#8220;Do whatever seems best to you.&#8221;<n id="4" /> But the priest said, &#8220;Let&#8217;s approach God here.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Then he said to all Israel, &#8220;You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.&#8221; The army replied to Saul, &#8220;Do whatever you think is best.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">So Saul said to Jonathan, &#8220;Tell me what you have done.&#8221; Jonathan told him, &#8220;I used the end of the staff that was in my hand to taste a little honey. I must die!&#8221;<n id="1" />

After Saul had secured his royal position over Israel, he fought against all their<n id="1" /> enemies on all sides &#8211; the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. In every direction that he turned he was victorious.<n id="2" />

Saul said to the Kenites, &#8220;Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away<n id="1" /> with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.&#8221; So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.p>

However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings,<n id="1" /> and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value.<n id="2" /> They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised<n id="3" /> and worthless.p>

&#8220;I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I told him to do.&#8221; Samuel became angry and he cried out to the <sc>Lordsc> all that night.p>