One Year Bible.

Samuel Anoints Saul

¹Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you ruler over His inheritance? ²When you leave me today, you will find two men at Rachel’s tomb in Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you seek have been found, and now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and started worrying about you, asking, “What should I do about my son?”’

³Then you will go on from there until you come to the Oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hands.

⁵After that you will come to Gibeah of God, where the Philistines have an outpost. As you approach the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place, preceded by harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying.

⁶Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be transformed into a different person.

⁷When these signs have come, do as the occasion demands, for God is with you. ⁸And you shall go before me to Gilgal, and surely I will come to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you are to do.”

Samuel’s Signs Fulfilled

⁹As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all the signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a group of prophets met him. Then the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied along with them.

¹¹When all those who had formerly known Saul saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹²Then a man who lived there replied, “And who is their father?” So the saying became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹³And when Saul had finished prophesying, he went up to the high place.

¹⁴Now Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?”

“To look for the donkeys,” Saul replied. “When we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵“Tell me,” Saul’s uncle asked, “what did Samuel say to you?”

¹⁶And Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷After this, Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah ¹⁸and said to the Israelites, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hands of the Egyptians and of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’

¹⁹But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions, and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans.”

²⁰Thus Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected. ²¹Then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its clans, and the clan of Matri was selected. Finally, Saul son of Kish was selected. But when they looked for him, they could not find him. ²²So again they inquired of the LORD, “Has the man come here yet?”

And the LORD replied, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”

²³So they ran and brought Saul, and when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others. ²⁴Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”

And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

²⁵Then Samuel explained to the people the rights of kingship. He wrote them on a scroll and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own home.

²⁶Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, and the men of valor whose hearts God had touched went with him.

²⁷But some worthless men said, “How can this man save us?” So they despised him and brought him no gifts; but Saul remained silent about it.

Paul’s Apostolic Authority

¹Now by the mildness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you — I, Paul, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold when away. ²I beg you that when I come I may not need to be as bold as I expect toward those who presume that we live according to the flesh.

³For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. ⁴The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ⁶And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete.

⁷You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself that we belong to Christ just as much as he does. ⁸For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.

⁹I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you by my letters. ¹⁰For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is unimpressive, and his speaking is of no account.” ¹¹Such people should consider that what we are in our letters when absent, we will be in our actions when present.

¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance. ¹³We, however, will not boast beyond our limits, but only within the field of influence that God has assigned to us — a field that reaches even to you. ¹⁴We are not overstepping our bounds, as if we had not come to you. Indeed, we were the first to reach you with the gospel of Christ.

¹⁵Neither do we boast beyond our limits in the labors of others. But we hope that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you will greatly increase as well, ¹⁶so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. Then we will not be boasting in the work already done in another man’s territory.

¹⁷Rather, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” ¹⁸For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Job Laments His Birth

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²And this is what he said:

³“May the day of my birth perish,

and the night it was said,

‘A boy is conceived.’

⁴If only that day had turned to darkness!

May God above disregard it;

may no light shine upon it.

⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it,

and a cloud settle over it;

may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.

⁶If only darkness had taken that night away!

May it not appear among the days of the year;

may it never be entered in any of the months.

⁷Behold, may that night be barren;

may no joyful voice come into it.

⁸May it be cursed by those who curse the day —

those prepared to rouse Leviathan.

⁹May its morning stars grow dark;

may it wait in vain for daylight;

may it not see the breaking of dawn.

¹⁰For that night did not shut the doors of the womb

to hide the sorrow from my eyes.

¹¹Why did I not perish at birth;

why did I not die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why were there knees to receive me,

and breasts that I should be nursed?

¹³For now I would be lying down in peace;

I would be asleep and at rest

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth,

who built for themselves cities now in ruins,

¹⁵or with princes who had gold,

who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child,

like an infant who never sees daylight?

¹⁷There the wicked cease from raging,

and there the weary find rest.

¹⁸The captives enjoy their ease;

they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

¹⁹Both small and great are there,

and the slave is freed from his master.

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable,

and life to the bitter of soul,

²¹who long for death that does not come,

and search for it like hidden treasure,

²²who rejoice and greatly exult

when they reach the grave?

²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden,

whom God has hedged in?

²⁴I sigh when food is put before me,

and my groans pour out like water.

²⁵For the thing I feared has overtaken me,

and what I dreaded has befallen me.

²⁶I am not at ease or quiet;

I have no rest, for trouble has come.”

Eliphaz: The Innocent Prosper

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied?

Yet who can keep from speaking?

³Surely you have instructed many,

and have strengthened their feeble hands.

⁴Your words have steadied those who stumbled;

you have braced the knees that were buckling.

⁵But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary.

It strikes you, and you are dismayed.

⁶Is your reverence not your confidence,

and the uprightness of your ways your hope?

⁷Consider now, I plead:

Who, being innocent, has ever perished?

Or where have the upright been destroyed?

⁸As I have observed, those who plow iniquity

and those who sow trouble reap the same.

⁹By the breath of God they perish,

and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.

¹⁰The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl,

yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹¹The old lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹²Now a word came to me secretly;

my ears caught a whisper of it.

¹³In disquieting visions in the night,

when deep sleep falls on men,

¹⁴fear and trembling came over me

and made all my bones shudder.

¹⁵Then a spirit glided past my face,

and the hair on my body bristled.

¹⁶It stood still,

but I could not discern its appearance;

a form loomed before my eyes,

and I heard a whispering voice:

¹⁷‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God,

or a man more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸If God puts no trust in His servants,

and He charges His angels with error,

¹⁹how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,

whose foundations are in the dust,

who can be crushed like a moth!

²⁰They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;

unnoticed, they perish forever.

²¹Are not their tent cords pulled up,

so that they die without wisdom?’[’’]