1Sa 9, 1Sa 21 | ESV | STEP | There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish , the son of Abiel , son of Zeror , son of Becorath , son of Aphiah , a Benjaminite , a man of wealth .

ak[See ver. 4 above]

al Lev. 24:8, 9

am ch. 22:9; See Ps. 52

an ch. 17:51

ao ch. 17:2

apSee Ps. 34

aq ch. 18:7; 29:5

ar[Luke 2:19]

1 Samuel 9

Saul Chosen to Be King

1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was ^aKish, 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, ^ba handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. ^cFrom 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 ^dthe hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of ^eShalishah, 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, ^glest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.” 6 But he said to him, “Behold, there is ^ha man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; ⁱall 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, ^jwhat 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 ^lwent 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, ^mthey 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 ⁿhave a sacrifice today on ^othe 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, ^pthe Lord had ^qrevealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, ^rand you shall anoint him to be prince ^{▼▼Or leader} over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. ^tFor 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, ^v“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 ^wAs 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, ^xfrom the least of the tribes of Israel? ^yAnd 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 ^zthe 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} ^acon 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 ^afNob, to ^agAhimelech the priest. And Ahimelech ^ahcame 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 ^aiholy bread— ^ajif 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 ^akthe holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, ^alwhich 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 ^amDoeg 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, ^an“The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in ^aothe 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 ^apAchish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? ^aqDid they not sing to one another of him in dances,

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 And David ^artook 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?”