Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran: The Pillars of Three Faiths. Various Authors

and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. ⁹And they said unto the messengers that came: 'Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabesh-gilead: To-morrow, by the time the sun is hot, ye shall have deliverance.' And the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. ¹⁰And the men of Jabesh said: 'To-morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you.'

      ¹¹And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and smote the Ammonites until the heat of the day; and it came to pass, that they that remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together. ¹²And the people said unto Samuel: 'Who is he that said: Shall Saul reign over us? bring the men, that we may put them to death.' ¹³And Saul said: 'There shall not a man be put to death this day; for to-day the Lord hath wrought deliverance in Israel.'

      ¹⁴Then said Samuel to the people: 'Come and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.' ¹⁵And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offerings before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

      12And Samuel said unto all Israel: 'Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you. ²And now, behold, the king walketh before you; and I am old and gray-headed; and, behold, my sons are with you; and I have walked before you from my youth unto this day. ³Here I am; witness against me before the Lord, and before His anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? or whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.' ⁴And they said: 'Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand.' ⁵And he said unto them: 'The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found aught in my hand.' And they said: 'He is witness.'

      ⁶And Samuel said unto the people: 'It is the Lord that made Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord, which He did to you and to your fathers. ⁸When Jacob was come into Egypt, then your fathers cried unto the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and they were made to dwell in this place. ⁹But they forgot the Lord their God, and He gave them over into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. ¹⁰And they cried unto the Lord, and said: We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve Thee. ¹¹And the Lord sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelt in safety. ¹²And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me: Nay, but a king shall reign over us; when the Lord your God was your king. ¹³Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have asked for; and, behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. ¹⁴If ye will fear the Lord, and serve Him, and hearken unto His voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and both ye and also the king that reigneth over you be followers of the Lord your God—; ¹⁵but if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, and against your fathers. ¹⁶Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes. ¹⁷Is it not wheat harvest to-day? I will call unto the Lord, that He may send thunder and rain; and ye shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king.' ¹⁸So Samuel called unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. ¹⁹And all the people said unto Samuel: 'Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not; for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.' ²⁰And Samuel said unto the people: 'Fear not; ye have indeed done all this evil; yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; ²¹and turn ye not aside; for then should ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. ²²For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's sake; because it hath pleased the Lord to make you a people unto Himself. ²³Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and the right way. ²⁴Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things He hath done for you. ²⁵But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be swept away, both ye and your king.'

13Saul was ⁴——— years old when he began to reign; and two years he reigned over Israel. ²And Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmas and in the mount of Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeath-benjamin; and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. ³And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the horn throughout all the land, saying: 'Let the Hebrews hear.' ⁴And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also had made himself odious with the Philistines. And the people were gathered together after Saul to Gilgal.

      ⁵And the Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude; and they came up, and pitched in Michmas, eastward of Beth-aven. ⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait—for the people were distressed—then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in holds, and in pits. ⁷Now some of the Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; but as for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

      ⁸And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed; but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. ⁹And Saul said: 'Bring hither to me the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings.' And he offered the burnt-offering. ¹⁰And it came to pass that, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt-offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. ¹¹And Samuel said: 'What hast thou done?' And Saul said: 'Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together against Michmas; ¹²therefore said I: Now will the Philistines come down upon me to Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favour of the Lord; I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt-offering.' ¹³And Samuel said to Saul: 'Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which He commanded thee; for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. ¹⁴But now thy kingdom shall not continue; the Lord hath sought him a man after His own heart, and the Lord hath appointed him to be prince over His people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.'

¹⁵And Samuel arose, and got him up from Gilgal unto Gibeath-benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men. ¹⁶And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in ⁵Gibeath-benjamin; but the Philistines encamped in Michmas. ¹⁷And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company turned unto the way that leadeth to Ophrah, unto the land of Shual; ¹⁸and another company turned the way to Beth-horon; and another company turned the way of the border that looketh down upon the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

¹⁹Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said: 'Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears'; ²⁰but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his plowshare, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. ²¹And the price of the filing was ⁶a