Saul Anointed King

10 Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on his head. Then he kissed him and said, “Has Adonai not anointed you ruler over His inheritance? ² When you leave me today, you will find two men near the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you: ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found—behold, your father has dropped the matter about the donkeys and is worried about you saying, “What should I do about my son?’” ³ Then you will go on from there until you reach the terebinth of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Beth-el will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and the other carrying a jug of wine. ⁴ Then they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will receive from their hand. ⁵ After that, you will arrive at the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is. It will come about, as soon as you enter the town, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place, preceded by a harp, a tambourine and a flute, and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then the Ruach of Adonai will seize you and you will prophesy with them—you will turn into another man. ⁷ Now when these signs happen to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires, for God is with you. ⁸ Afterward, you are to go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice fellowship offerings. Seven days you will wait, until I come to you and instruct you what you should do.”

⁹ Then it happened, as Saul turned his back to leave Samuel, that God transformed his heart, and all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they arrived there, at the hill, behold, a band of prophets did meet him, and suddenly, the Ruach of God overtook him, and subsequently, he prophesied among them. ¹¹ So when all who knew him formerly saw him prophesying with the prophets, they said one to another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² (Someone there asked, “Who is their father?”) Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ Now Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To look for the donkeys. But when we saw that they could not be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me now, what did Samuel say to you?”

¹⁶ “He assured us that the donkeys had been found,” Saul said to his uncle. But concerning the matter of kingship about which Samuel spoke, he told him nothing.

¹⁷ Then Samuel summoned the people to Adonai at Mizpah. ¹⁸ He said to Bnei-Yisrael, “Thus says Adonai, God of Israel: I brought Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you. ¹⁹ But today you have spurned your God, who is your deliverer from all your calamities and your distresses. For you said to Him: ‘No! Rather set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before Adonai by your tribes and by your thousands.”

²⁰ So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. ²¹ Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was chosen. Finally, Saul son of Kish was chosen. But when they looked for him, he could not be found. ²² Therefore, they inquired of Adonai further, “Has the man come here yet?” Adonai answered, “He has just hidden himself among the baggage.” ²³ So they ran and brought him from there. When he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders up.

²⁴ Then Samuel announced to all the people, “Do you see the one Adonai has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people!”

Then all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!” ²⁵ Then Samuel explained to the people the rules of kingship, wrote them in a scroll and placed it before Adonai. Then Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. ²⁶ Saul also went home to Gibeah, accompanied by men of valor whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ But certain worthless men said, “How can this one save us?” So they despised him and brought him no present. But he kept silent.