¹⁵ Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: ¹⁶ “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint^(A) him ruler^(B) over my people Israel; he will deliver^(C) them from the hand of the Philistines.^(D) I have looked on my people, for their cry^(E) has reached me.”

¹⁷ When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, “This^(F) is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”

³ For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.^{(A) 4} The weapons we fight with^(B) are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power^(C) to demolish strongholds.^{(D) 5} We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,^(E) and we take captive every thought to make it obedient^(F) to Christ. ⁶ And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.^(G)

⁷ You are judging by appearances.^[a](H) If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ,^(I) they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.^{(J) 8} So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us^(K) for building you up rather than tearing you down,^(L) I will not be ashamed of it.