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40  How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness ♦︎
   and grieved him in the desert!
41  Again and again they tempted God ♦︎
   and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42  They did not remember his power ♦︎
   in the day when he redeemed them from the enemy;
43  How he had wrought his signs in Egypt ♦︎
   and his wonders in the field of Zoan.
44  He turned their rivers into blood, ♦︎
   so that they could not drink of their streams.
45  He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, ♦︎
   and frogs which brought them ruin.
46  He gave their produce to the caterpillar, ♦︎
   the fruit of their toil to the locust.
47  He destroyed their vines with hailstones ♦︎
   and their sycamore trees with the frost.
48  He delivered their cattle to hailstones ♦︎
   and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49  He set loose on them his blazing anger: ♦︎
   fury, displeasure and trouble,
      a troop of destroying angels.
50  He made a way for his anger
      and spared not their souls from death, ♦︎
   but gave their life over to the pestilence.
51  He smote the firstborn of Egypt, ♦︎
   the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52  But he led out his people like sheep ♦︎
   and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53  He led them to safety and they were not afraid, ♦︎
   but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54  He brought them to his holy place, ♦︎
   the mountain which his right hand took in possession.
55  He drove out the nations before them
      and shared out to them their inheritance; ♦︎
   he settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56  Yet still they tested God Most High
      and rebelled against him, ♦︎
   and would not keep his commandments.
57  They turned back and fell away like their forebears, ♦︎
   starting aside like an unstrung bow.
58  They grieved him with their hill altars ♦︎
   and provoked him to displeasure with their idols.
59  God heard and was greatly angered, ♦︎
   and utterly rejected Israel.
60  He forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, ♦︎
   the tent of his presence on earth.
61  He gave the ark of his strength into captivity, ♦︎
   his splendour into the adversary’s hand.
62  He delivered his people to the sword ♦︎
   and raged against his inheritance.
63  The fire consumed their young men; ♦︎
   there was no one to lament their maidens.
64  Their priests fell by the sword, ♦︎
   and their widows made no lamentation.
65  Then the Lord woke as out of sleep, ♦︎
   like a warrior who had been overcome with wine.
66  He struck his enemies from behind ♦︎
   and put them to perpetual shame.
67  He rejected the tent of Joseph ♦︎
   and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
68  But he chose the tribe of Judah ♦︎
   and the hill of Zion, which he loved.
69  And there he built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven, ♦︎
   like the earth which he founded for ever.
70  He chose David also, his servant, ♦︎
   and took him away from the sheepfolds.
71  From following the ewes with their lambs he took him, ♦︎
   that he might shepherd Jacob his people
      and Israel his inheritance.
72  So he shepherded them with a devoted heart ♦︎
   and with skilful hands he guided them.

Saul Defeats the Amalekites but Spares Their King

15Samuel said to Saul, ‘The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. ²Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. ³Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” ’ ⁷Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸He took King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. ⁹Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and of the cattle and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was valuable, and would not utterly destroy them; all that was despised and worthless they utterly destroyed.

Saul Rejected as King

10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹‘I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands.’ Samuel was angry; and he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹²Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, and Samuel was told, ‘Saul went to Carmel, where he set up a monument for himself, and on returning he passed on down to Gilgal.’ ¹³When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, ‘May you be blessed by the Lord; I have carried out the command of the Lord.’ ¹⁴But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?’ ¹⁵Saul said, ‘They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.’ ¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ He replied, ‘Speak.’

17 Samuel said, ‘Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, “Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.” ¹⁹Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?’ ²⁰Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’ ²²And Samuel said,
‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices,
   as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice,
   and to heed than the fat of rams.
²³ For rebellion is no less a sin than divination,
   and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
   he has also rejected you from being king.’

24 Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. ²⁵Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord.’ ²⁶Samuel said to Saul, ‘I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.’ ²⁷As Samuel turned to go away, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸And Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this very day, and has given it to a neighbour of yours, who is better than you. ²⁹Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not recant^* or change his mind; for he is not a mortal, that he should change his mind.’ ³⁰Then Saul^* said, ‘I have sinned; yet honour me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.’ ³¹So Samuel turned back after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord.

32 Then Samuel said, ‘Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.’ And Agag came to him haltingly.^* Agag said, ‘Surely this is the bitterness of death.’^{* 33}But Samuel said,
‘As your sword has made women childless,
   so your mother shall be childless among women.’
And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.

⁵⁶Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.

On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

The Resurrection of Jesus

24But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they went in, they did not find the body.^{* 4}While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. ⁵The women^* were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men^* said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.^{* 6}Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ ⁸Then they remembered his words, ⁹and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.