When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for ¹  this is the time when you can find him!”

So the cook picked up the leg and brought it and set it in front of Saul. Samuel ¹  said, “What was kept is now set before you! Eat, for it has been kept for you for this meeting time, from the time I said, ‘I have invited the people.’” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

They got up at dawn and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get up, so I can send you on your way.” So Saul got up and the two of them – he and Samuel – went outside.

Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”

Goliath ¹  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ²  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ³  for yourselves a man so he may come down ⁴  to me!

Then Jonathan called David and told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he had done formerly. ¹ 

Then the king arranged for a meeting with the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and all the priests of his father’s house who were at Nob. They all came to the king.

Afterward David got up and went out of the cave. He called out after Saul, “My lord, O king!” When Saul looked behind him, David kneeled down and bowed with his face to the ground.

Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?”

So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. ¹ 

David and all the men who were with him traveled ¹  to ²  Baalah ³  in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name ⁴  of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

So Joab went to the king and informed him. The king ¹  summoned Absalom, and he came to the king. Absalom ²  bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and the king kissed him. ³ 

Then the watchman saw another man running. The watchman called out to the gatekeeper, “There is another man running by himself.” The king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”

Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Greetings!” ¹  He bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and said, “May the Lord your God be praised because he has defeated ²  the men who opposed ³  my lord the king!”

So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to ¹  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, cattle, and fattened steers at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, ¹  as well as all the men of Judah, the king’s servants.

For today he has gone down and sacrificed many cattle, steers, and sheep and has invited all the king’s sons, the army commanders, and Abiathar the priest. At this moment ¹  they are having a feast ²  in his presence, and they have declared, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ ³ 

Now Adonijah and all his guests heard the commotion just as they had finished eating. ¹  When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he asked, “Why is there such a noisy commotion in the city?” ² 

the king summoned ¹  Shimei and said to him, “You will recall ²  that I made you take an oath by the Lord, and I solemnly warned you, ‘If you ever leave and go anywhere, ³  know for sure that you will certainly die.’ You said to me, ‘The proposal is acceptable; I agree to it.’ ⁴ 

When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one except the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty. ¹