Saul Chosen to Be King

9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was ^(A)Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of ^[a]power. ² And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. ^(B)From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

³ Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, “Please take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” ⁴ So he passed through the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of ^(C)Shalisha, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them.

⁵ When they had come to the land of ^(D)Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, let ^(E)us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us.”

⁶ And he said to him, “Look now, there is in this city ^(F)a man of God, and he is an honorable man; ^(G)all that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go.”

⁷ Then Saul said to his servant, “But look, if we go, ^(H)what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

⁸ And the servant answered Saul again and said, “Look, I have here at hand one-fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.” ⁹ (Formerly in Israel, when a man ^(I)went ^[b]to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called ^(J)a seer.)

¹⁰ Then Saul said to his servant, ^[c]“Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

¹¹ As they went up the hill to the city, ^(K)they met some young women going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?”

¹² And they answered them and said, “Yes, there he is, just ahead of you. Hurry now; for today he came to this city, because ^(L)there is a sacrifice of the people today ^(M)on the high place. ¹³ As soon as you come into the city, you will surely find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now therefore, go up, for about this time you will find him.” ¹⁴ So they went up to the city. As they were coming into the city, there was Samuel, coming out toward them on his way up to the high place.

^15 (N)Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, ¹⁶ “Tomorrow about this time ^(O)I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, ^(P)and you shall anoint him ^[d]commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have ^(Q)looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”