10 Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that Jehovah hath anointed thee to be prince over his inheritance? ² When thou art departed from me to-day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel’s sepulchre, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found; and, lo, thy father hath left off caring for the asses, and is anxious for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? ³ Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the ^[a]oak of Tabor; and there shall meet thee there three men going up to God to Beth-el, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a ^[b]bottle of wine: ⁴ and they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread, which thou shalt receive of their hand. ⁵ After that thou shalt come to ^[c]the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying: ⁶ and the Spirit of Jehovah will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. ⁷ And ^[d]let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, ^[e]that thou do as occasion shall serve thee; for God is with thee. ⁸ And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come unto thee, and show thee what thou shalt do.

⁹ And it was so, that, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God ^[f]gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ And when they came thither to ^[g]the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? ¹² And one of the same place answered and said, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? ¹³ And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ And Saul’s uncle said unto him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses; and when we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel. ¹⁵ And Saul’s uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you. ¹⁶ And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not.

¹⁷ And Samuel called the people together unto Jehovah to Mizpah; ¹⁸ and he said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you: ¹⁹ but ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saveth you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Jehovah by your tribes, and by your thousands. ²⁰ So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. ²¹ And he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families; and the family of the Matrites was taken; and Saul the son of Kish was taken: but when they sought him, he could not be found. ²² Therefore they asked of Jehovah further, ^[h]Is there yet a man to come hither? And Jehovah answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the baggage. ²³ And they ran and fetched him thence; and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. ²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom Jehovah hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, Long live the king.

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in ^[i]a book, and laid it up before Jehovah. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. ²⁶ And Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and there went with him the ^[j]host, whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ But certain worthless fellows said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no present. ^[k]But he held his peace.

6 And the ark of Jehovah was in the ^[a]country of the Philistines seven months. ² And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the ark of Jehovah? show us wherewith we shall send it to its place. ³ And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but by all means return him a trespass-offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. ⁴ Then said they, What shall be the trespass-offering which we shall return to him? And they said, Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on ^[b]you all, and on your lords. ⁵ Wherefore ye shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. ⁶ Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had ^[c]wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let ^[d]the people go, and they departed? ⁷ Now therefore take and prepare you a new cart, and two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke; and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them; ⁸ and take the ark of Jehovah, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass-offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. ⁹ And see; if it goeth up by the way of its own border to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.

¹⁰ And the men did so, and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home; ¹¹ and they put the ark of Jehovah upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. ¹² And the kine took the straight way by the way to Beth-shemesh; they went along ^[e]the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. ¹³ And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great ^[f]stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered up the kine for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah. ¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of Jehovah, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto Jehovah. ¹⁶ And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷ And these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a trespass-offering unto Jehovah: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; ¹⁸ and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even unto the great stone, whereon they set down the ark of Jehovah, which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

¹⁹ And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah, he smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand men; and the people mourned, because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰ And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us? ²¹ And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of Jehovah; come ye down, and fetch it up to you. 7 ¹ And the men of Kiriath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of Jehovah, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in ^[g]the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Jehovah. ² And it came to pass, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel ^[h]lamented after Jehovah.

³ And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto Jehovah with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts unto Jehovah, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁴ Then the children of Israel did put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and served Jehovah only.

⁵ And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto Jehovah. ⁶ And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Jehovah, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah. ⁷ And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸ And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto Jehovah our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁹ And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt-offering unto Jehovah: and Samuel cried unto Jehovah for Israel; and Jehovah answered him. ¹⁰ And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but Jehovah thundered with a great ^[i]thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten down before Israel. ¹¹ And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it ^[j]Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath Jehovah helped us. ¹³ So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more within the border of Israel: and the hand of Jehovah was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴ And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the border thereof did Israel deliver out of the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ And he went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷ And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel: and he built there an altar unto Jehovah.