Saul Anointed King

10 ^(A)Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head ^(B)and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince^[a] over ^(C)his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince^[b] over his heritage. ² When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by ^(D)Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ^(E)‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now ^(F)your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ ³ Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the ^(G)oak of Tabor. Three men ^(H)going up ^(I)to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴ And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. ⁵ After that you shall come to ^(J)Gibeath-elohim,^{[c] (K)}where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down ^(L)from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. ^6 (M)Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, ^(N)and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. ⁷ Now when ^(O)these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, ^(P)for God is with you. ⁸ Then go down before me ^(Q)to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and ^(R)to sacrifice peace offerings. ^(S)Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

⁹ When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they came to ^(T)Gibeah,^[d] behold, a group of prophets met him, ^(U)and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? ^(V)Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² And a man of the place answered, ^(W)“And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, ^(X)“Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

^14 (Y)Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, ^(Z)“To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵ And Saul's uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” ¹⁶ And Saul said to his uncle, ^(AA)“He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷ Now Samuel called the people together ^(AB)to the Lord ^(AC)at Mizpah. ¹⁸ And he said to the people of Israel, ^(AD)“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ ^19 (AE)But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore ^(AF)present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

²⁰ Then Samuel ^(AG)brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. ²¹ He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot;^[e] and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ^22 (AH)So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” ²³ Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, ^(AI)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. ²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(AJ)whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, ^(AK)“Long live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people ^(AL)the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. ²⁶ Saul also went to his home ^(AM)at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ But some ^(AN)worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

Saul Tries to Kill David

19 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. ^(A)But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. ² And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. ³ And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” ⁴ And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king ^(B)sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. ⁵ For ^(C)he took his life in his hand ^(D)and he struck down the Philistine, ^(E)and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against ^(F)innocent blood by killing David without cause?” ⁶ And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, ^(G)“As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” ⁷ And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence ^(H)as before.

⁸ And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. ^9 (I)Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. ^(J)And David was playing the lyre. ^10 (K)And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

^11 (L)Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” ^12 (M)So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. ¹³ Michal took ^(N)an image^[a] and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. ¹⁴ And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” ¹⁵ Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” ¹⁶ And when the messengers came in, behold, ^(O)the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. ¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. ^(P)Why should I kill you?’”

¹⁸ Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at ^(Q)Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. ¹⁹ And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰ Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, ^(R)the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, ^(S)and they also prophesied. ²¹ When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, ^(T)and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, ^(U)and they also prophesied. ²² Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in ^(V)Ramah.” ²³ And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. ^(W)And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ^24 (X)And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, ^(Y)“Is Saul also among the prophets?”