Then someone from the army informed him, “Your father put the army under a strict oath ¹  saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today!’ That is why the army is tired.”

So they ran and brought him from there. When he took his position among the people, he stood head and shoulders above them all.

When the messengers went to Gibeah (where Saul lived) ¹  and informed the people of these matters, all the people wept loudly. 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.

The men of Israel realized they had a problem because their army was hard pressed. So the army hid in caves, thickets, cliffs, strongholds, ¹  and cisterns.

When the army entered the forest, they saw ¹  the honey flowing, but no one ate any of it, ²  for the army was afraid of the oath.

So the army rushed greedily on ¹  the ²  plunder, confiscating sheep, cattle, and calves. They slaughtered them right on the ground, and the army ate them blood and all.

Then Samuel called the people together before the Lord at Mizpah.

But the Lord ¹  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

“At this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. You must consecrate ¹  him as a leader over my people Israel. He will save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked with favor on my people. Their cry has reached me!”

Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? Indeed, there is no one like him among all the people!” All the people shouted out, “Long live the king!”

This ought not to be, ¹  my sons! For the report that I hear circulating among the Lord’s people is not good.

So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.

But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. ¹  Instead they said, “No! There will be a king over us!

So Samuel listened to everything the people said and then reported it to the Lord. ¹ 

Then the people said to Samuel, “Who were the ones asking, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Hand over those men so we may execute them!”

Samuel said to the people, “Come on! Let’s go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.”

Saul, his son Jonathan, and the army that remained with them stayed in Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped in Micmash. ¹ 

On that day the army struck down the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon, and they became very tired.

He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all Agag’s people ¹  with the sword.