1Sa 6, 1Sa 9, 1Sa 21 | ESV | STEP | The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months .

1 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and ^athe diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him ^ba guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why ^chis hand does not turn away from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden ^dtumors and five golden mice, ^eaccording to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your ^ftumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, ^gand give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps ^hhe will lighten his hand from off you ⁱand your gods and your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts as ^jthe Egyptians and ^kPharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, ^ldid they not send the people away, and they departed? 7 Now then, take and prepare ^ma new cart and two milk cows ⁿon which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. 8 And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side ^othe figures of gold, which you are returning to him as ^pa guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way 9 and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to ^qBeth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not ^rhis hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

10 The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of ^sBeth-shemesh along ^tone highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of ^uBeth-shemesh. 13 Now the people of ^vBeth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. ^wA great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon ^xthe great stone. And the men of ^yBeth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16 And when ^zthe five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

17 These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a ^aaguilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, ^abboth fortified cities and unwalled villages. ^acThe great stone beside which they set down the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

19 ^adAnd he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, ^{▼▼Most Hebrew manuscripts struck of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men} and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, ^af“Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^agKiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.”

1 Samuel 9

Saul Chosen to Be King

1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was ^ahKish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, ^aia handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. ^ajFrom his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” 4 And he passed through ^akthe hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of ^alShalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.

5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant ^{▼▼Hebrew young man; also verses 7, 8, 10, 27} who was with him, “Come, let us go back, ^anlest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.” 6 But he said to him, “Behold, there is ^aoa man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; ^apall that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.” 7 Then Saul said to his servant, “But if we go, ^aqwhat can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” 8 The servant answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter of a shekel ^{▼▼A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams} of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man ^aswent to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today’s “prophet” was formerly called a seer.) 10 And Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

11 As they went up the hill to the city, ^atthey met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?” 12 They answered, “He is; behold, he is just ahead of you. Hurry. He has come just now to the city, because the people ^auhave a sacrifice today on ^avthe high place. 13 As soon as you enter the city you will find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat till he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” 14 So they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place.

15 Now the day before Saul came, ^awthe Lord had ^axrevealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, ^ayand you shall anoint him to be prince ^{▼▼Or leader} over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. ^baFor I have seen ^{▼▼Septuagint adds the affliction of} my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, ^bc“Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” 18 Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Tell me where is the house of the seer?” 19 Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. 20 ^bdAs for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?” 21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, ^befrom the least of the tribes of Israel? ^bfAnd is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”

22 Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons. 23 And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Put it aside.’” 24 So the cook took up ^bgthe leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.” ^{▼▼Hebrew appointed, saying, ‘I have invited the people’}

So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25 And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew and he spoke with Saul} ^bjon the roof, and he lay down to sleep. 26 Then at the break of dawn ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew And they arose early and at the break of dawn} Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Up, that I may send you on your way.” So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”

1 Samuel 21

David and the Holy Bread

1 ^{▼▼Ch 21:2 in Hebrew} Then David came to ^bmNob, to ^bnAhimelech the priest. And Ahimelech ^bocame to meet David, trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is ^bpholy bread— ^bqif the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him ^brthe holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, ^bswhich is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was ^btDoeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.

8 Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.” 9 And the priest said, ^bu“The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in ^bvthe Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”

David Flees to Gath

10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to ^bwAchish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? ^bxDid they not sing to one another of him in dances,

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 And David ^bytook these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”