But Shemu’ĕl said to Sha’ul, “I do not return with you, for you have rejected the word of יהוה, and יהוה does reject you from being sovereign over Yisra’ĕl.”
But he said, “My son is not going down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any harm should come to him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my grey hair with sorrow to She’ol.”
Why have you despised the Word of יהוה to do evil in His eyes? You have struck Uriyah the Ḥittite with the sword, and his wife you took to be your wife, and you have killed him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
“Hear, O earth! See, I am bringing evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My words, nor My Torah – and they rejected it.
“My people have perished for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priest for Me. Since you have forgotten the Torah of your Elohim, I also forget your children.
And having removed him, He raised up for them Dawiḏ as sovereign, to whom also He gave witness and said, ‘I have found Dawiḏ the son of Yishai, a man after My own heart, who shall do all My desires.’ ”
“But now, your reign is not going to stand. יהוה shall seek for Himself a man after His own heart, and יהוה shall command him to be leader over His people, because you have not guarded what יהוה commanded you.”
“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of יהוה, He also does reject you as sovereign.”
And יהוה said to Shemu’ĕl, “How long are you going to mourn for Sha’ul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Yisra’ĕl? Fill your horn with oil, and go, I am sending you to Yishai the Bĕyth Leḥemite. For I have seen among his sons a sovereign for Myself.”
“Therefore יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl declares, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now יהוה declares, ‘Far be it from Me, for those who highly esteem Me I highly esteem, and those who despise Me are lightly esteemed.