He said to her, “If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, ¹  I will become weak and be just like any other man.”

Everyone who saw the sight ¹  said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since ²  the Israelites left the land of Egypt! ³  Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

She asked, ¹  ‘May I follow the harvesters and gather ²  grain among the bundles?’ ³  Since she arrived she has been working hard ⁴  from this morning until now ⁵  – except for ⁶  sitting ⁷  in the resting hut ⁸  a short time.” ⁹ 

and the lamp of God had not yet been extinguished. Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord as well; the ark of God was also there.

The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from ¹  the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!”

But after it had been moved the Lord attacked ¹  that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city ²  with sores. ³ 

Don’t be concerned ¹  about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found. Whom does all Israel desire? Is it not you, and all your father’s family?” ² 

Then Samuel brought ¹  Saul and his servant into the room and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited. There were about thirty people present.

Saul said to his uncle, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul ¹  did not tell him what Samuel had said about the matter of kingship.

But Saul replied to David, “You aren’t able to go against this Philistine and fight him! You’re just a boy! He has been a warrior from his youth!”

David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd for his father’s flock. Whenever a lion or bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock,

Now be aware of this, and see what you can do. For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household. ¹  He is such a wicked person ²  that no one tells him anything!”

Now David had been thinking, ¹  “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

Then David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They had been living in that land for a long time, from the approach ¹  to Shur as far as the land of Egypt.)

When the Philistines heard that David had been designated ¹  king over Israel, they all ²  went up to search for David. When David heard about it, he went down to the fortress.

The king had mercy on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, in light of the Lord’s oath that had been taken between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Has it been reported to you ¹  that Haggith’s son Adonijah has become king behind our master David’s back? ² 

Under the rim all the way around it ¹  were round ornaments ²  arranged in settings 15 feet long. ³  The ornaments were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.” ⁴ 

She gave the king 120 talents ¹  of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched. ² 

King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served ¹  his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, ²  “How do you advise me to answer these people?”