1 Samuel 10

¹And Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on Saul's head and kissed him, and said, "Is it not because the Lord has anointed you over his inheritance as leader?"

²When you go today from me, you will find two men at Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, 'The donkeys you went to seek have been found, and now your father has given up the matter of the donkeys and is anxious for you all, saying, What shall I do about my son?'

³And you shall pass on from there further and come to the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, and one carrying three loaves of bread, and one carrying a skin of wine.

⁴And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, and you shall take them from their hand.

⁵After that you shall come to Gibeah of God, where there are garrisons of the Philistines. And when you come there to the city, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place, with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, and they will be prophesying.

⁶And the spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you shall prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

⁷And when these signs come upon you, do for yourself whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

⁸And you shall go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I am going down to you to offer up burnt offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait until my coming to you, and I will tell you what you shall do.

⁹And when he turned his shoulder to leave Samuel, God turned for him another heart; and all these signs came to pass on that day.

¹⁰And they came there to Gibeah, and behold, a band of prophets met him, and the spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied in their midst.

¹¹And when all who had known him previously saw that he was prophesying with the prophets, the people said, each one to his companion, "What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"

¹²And a man from there answered and said, 'And who is their father?' Therefore it became a proverb: 'Is Saul also among the prophets?'

¹³And when he finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴And Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, "Where did you go?" And he said, "To seek the donkeys. And when we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel."

¹⁵And Saul's uncle said, 'Tell me please what Samuel said to you all.'

¹⁶And Saul said to his uncle, 'He certainly told us that the donkeys had been found.' But the matter of the kingship he did not tell him, that which Samuel had said.

¹⁷And Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah.

¹⁸And he said to the sons of Israel, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I brought up Israel from Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.'

¹⁹And as for you, today you have rejected the God of you all, who himself saves for you all from all the troubles of you all and the distresses of you all, and you said to him, 'Set a king over us.' And now present yourselves before the Lord by the tribes of you all and by the clans of you all.

²⁰And Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

²¹And he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken; and Saul the son of Kish was taken. And they sought him, but he was not found.

²²And they inquired further of the Lord, 'Has the man come here yet?' And the Lord said, 'Look, he is hiding himself among the equipment.'

²³And they ran and brought him from there, and he stood in the midst of the people; and he was taller than all the people from his shoulders upward.

²⁴And Samuel said to all the people, 'Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? For there is none like him among all the people.' And all the people shouted and said, 'Long live the king!'

²⁵And Samuel spoke to the people the regulations of the kingship, and wrote them in a scroll, and laid it before the LORD. And Samuel dismissed all the people, each to his house.

²⁶And Saul also went to his house at Gibeah, and with him went the men of valor whose hearts God had touched.

²⁷But the sons of Belial said, 'How will this fellow save us?' And they despised him and brought him no gift. But he was as one keeping silent.