I have done only good to them. It is not right for them to pay me back with evil. But they are preparing a death trap for me! Remember that I prayed to you for them. I asked only good for them. I tried to keep you from punishing them in anger.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. These men served you, and you used your name to make a promise to them. You said, ‘I will make your people as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your people all this land as I promised. This land will be theirs forever.’”
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets. You stone to death the people God has sent to you. How many times I wanted to help your people. I wanted to gather them together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you did not let me.
Lord, I did not run away from you. I followed you. I became the shepherd you wanted. I did not want the terrible day to come. You know what I said. You see all that is happening.
And as for me, I would never stop praying for you. If I stopped praying for you, I would be sinning against the Lord. I will continue to teach you the right way to live a good life.
“Saul has stopped following me, so I am sorry that I made him king. He is not doing what I tell him.” Samuel became angry and cried to the Lord all night.
The Scriptures talk about that stone: “Look, I put in Zion a stone that will make people stumble. It is a rock that will make people fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.” Isaiah 8:14; 28:16