Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of Matri was chosen by lot. At last Saul son of Kish was chosen by lot. But when they looked for him, he was nowhere to be found.

But some wicked men ¹  said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. ² 

But Saul said, “No one will be killed on this day. For today the Lord has given Israel a victory!”

He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king ¹  is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.” ²  They said, “He is witness!”

“When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’ – even though the Lord your God is your king!

But if you don’t obey ¹  the Lord and rebel against what the Lord says, the hand of the Lord will be against both you and your king. ² 

The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. ¹  The Lord was pleased to make you his own people.

He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. ¹  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. ² 

I thought, ¹  ‘Now the Philistines will come down on me at Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt obligated ²  to offer the burnt offering.”

A blacksmith could not be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “This will prevent the Hebrews from making swords and spears.”

If they say to us, ‘Stay put until we approach you,’ we will stay ¹  right there and not go up to them.

Certainly if the army had eaten some of the enemies’ provisions that they came across today, would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”

So Saul asked God, “Should I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.

Samuel said, “Is it not true that when you were insignificant in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord chose ¹  you as king over Israel.

Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel!”

Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. ¹  But Samuel ²  said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.”

Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel. ¹  But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”

and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

So his servants told David these things and David agreed ¹  to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired ² 

When the servant came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called out to ¹  the servant, “Isn’t the arrow further beyond you?”