Old Testament
1 Samuel
31 chapters
Start reading: 1 Samuel 1About this book
First Samuel tells how Israel moved from the loose rule of the judges to a monarchy, through three men. It opens with Hannah, a childless woman who prays in anguish and gives her son Samuel back to God. Samuel grows into a prophet who hears God's voice, while the priesthood under Eli collapses and the ark of the covenant is captured. When the people demand a king like other nations, God grants it, and Saul is anointed. Saul starts well but keeps failing to obey, and God sends Samuel to anoint a shepherd boy, David, who defeats Goliath and wins the people's hearts. Saul's jealousy drives David into years as a fugitive, yet David twice refuses to harm the king. The book ends with Saul's death in battle. Its steady question is what kind of leader follows God: one who looks impressive, or one whose heart is turned toward him.
- Author
- Unknown; tradition links the material to Samuel, Nathan and Gad, and scholars think it was compiled later from earlier sources.
- Date
- Events cover roughly 1100 to 1010 BC; most scholars place the final form between the united monarchy and the exile.
- Audience
- Israel, including later generations asking how a king should lead under God's rule.
Themes
Answered prayerObedience over ritualGod looks at the heartLeadership and kingshipFaithful friendship
Outline
- 1:1–2:11Hannah's prayer and Samuel's birth
- 2:12–4:22Eli's house falls and the ark is taken
- 5:1–7:17The ark returns and Samuel leads
- 8:1–12:25Israel asks for a king and Saul is anointed
- 13:1–15:35Saul's disobedience and rejection
- 16:1–17:58David is anointed and faces Goliath
- 18:1–27:12Saul pursues David, who will not strike back
- 28:1–31:13The last battle and Saul's death
Key verses
Chapters of 1 Samuel
- 11 Samuel 1Hannah, one of Elkanah's two wives, is childless and deeply grieved, provoked by her rival Peninnah.
- 21 Samuel 2Hannah prays a song of praise, celebrating the Lord who lifts the poor and humbles the mighty, breaks the bows of the strong and strengthens the weak.
- 31 Samuel 3In a time when the word of the Lord was rare, the boy Samuel serves at Shiloh.
- 41 Samuel 4Israel loses a battle to the Philistines, and the elders decide to bring the ark of the covenant from Shiloh as a kind of good luck charm.
- 51 Samuel 5The Philistines place the ark in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod.
- 61 Samuel 6After seven months, the Philistines ask their priests and diviners how to return the ark.
- 71 Samuel 7The ark stays in Kiriath Jearim twenty years, and Israel mourns after the Lord.
- 81 Samuel 8When Samuel grows old, he appoints his sons as judges, but they take bribes and pervert justice.
- 91 Samuel 9Saul, a tall and handsome young Benjamite, goes out with a servant to find his father's lost donkeys.
- 101 Samuel 10Samuel privately anoints Saul with oil and tells him of three signs that will happen on his way home, including meeting prophets and being changed into another man.
- 111 Samuel 11Nahash the Ammonite besieges Jabesh Gilead and offers terms that include gouging out the right eye of every man.
- 121 Samuel 12At Gilgal, Samuel gives a farewell speech.
- 131 Samuel 13Saul's son Jonathan attacks a Philistine outpost, and the Philistines gather a huge force, so Israel's men hide or flee.
- 141 Samuel 14Jonathan and his armor-bearer secretly climb toward a Philistine outpost, trusting that the Lord can save by many or by few.
- 151 Samuel 15God sends Saul to carry out judgment on the Amalekites and to set everything under the ban.
- 161 Samuel 16The Lord sends Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint a new king from the household of Jesse.
- 171 Samuel 17A Philistine champion, Goliath, taunts Israel's army for forty days, and no one dares answer him.
- 181 Samuel 18After the victory over Goliath, Jonathan binds himself to David in deep friendship and gives him his robe and weapons.
- 191 Samuel 19Saul orders his servants and his son to kill David, but Jonathan pleads for him and Saul briefly relents.
- 201 Samuel 20David asks Jonathan to find out whether Saul truly means to kill him, and the two renew their covenant, asking that their loyalty extend to their descendants.
- 211 Samuel 21Fleeing Saul, David reaches Nob and asks the priest Ahimelech for food, saying he is on a secret royal mission.
- 221 Samuel 22David takes refuge in the cave of Adullam, where his family and about four hundred distressed and indebted men gather around him.
- 231 Samuel 23David rescues the town of Keilah from Philistine raiders after asking the Lord, and learns through the priest's ephod that the townspeople would hand him over to Saul, so he leaves.
- 241 Samuel 24Saul takes three thousand soldiers to hunt David at En Gedi and, by chance, enters the very cave where David and his men are hiding.
- 251 Samuel 25Samuel dies and Israel mourns.
- 261 Samuel 26The Ziphites again tell Saul where David is hiding, and Saul comes out with three thousand men.
- 271 Samuel 27Tired of running, David concludes that he will one day perish at Saul's hand and takes his six hundred men and their families to Achish, king of Gath.
- 281 Samuel 28The Philistines gather to fight Israel, and Saul, terrified, finds that the Lord no longer answers him by dreams, prophets, or the priestly lots.
- 291 Samuel 29The Philistine rulers assemble at Aphek for battle against Israel, and Achish brings David and his men along in the rear guard.
- 301 Samuel 30Returning to Ziklag, David and his men find it burned and their wives and children taken by Amalekite raiders.
- 311 Samuel 31The Philistines defeat Israel at Mount Gilboa.