Samuel Anoints Saul

10 Then ^(A)Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, ^(B)and kissed him and said: “Is it not because ^(C)the Lord has anointed you commander over ^(D)His ^[a]inheritance? ² When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by ^(E)Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin ^(F)at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worrying about ^(G)you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’ ³ Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up ^(H)to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴ And they will ^[b]greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. ⁵ After that you shall come to the hill of God ^(I)where the Philistine garrison is. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down ^(J)from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them; ^(K)and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then ^(L)the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and ^(M)you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. ⁷ And let it be, when these ^(N)signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for ^(O)God is with you. ⁸ You shall go down before me ^(P)to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. ^(Q)Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do.”

⁹ So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God ^[c]gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. ^10 (R)When they came there to the hill, there was ^(S)a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? ^(T)Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² Then a man from there answered and said, “But ^(U)who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ And when he had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

¹⁴ Then Saul’s ^(V)uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?”

So he said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ And Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me, please, what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶ So Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been ^(W)found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, he did not tell him what Samuel had said.

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷ Then Samuel called the people together ^(X)to the Lord ^(Y)at Mizpah, ¹⁸ and said to the children of Israel, ^(Z)“Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppressed you.’ ^19 (AA)But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your adversities and your tribulations; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’ Now therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your ^[d]clans.”

²⁰ And when Samuel had ^(AB)caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. ²¹ When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was chosen. And Saul the son of Kish was chosen. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ²² Therefore they ^(AC)inquired of the Lord further, “Has the man come here yet?”

And the Lord answered, “There he is, hidden among the equipment.”

²³ So they ran and brought him from there; and when he stood among the people, ^(AD)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. ²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(AE)whom the Lord has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?”

So all the people shouted and said, ^(AF)“Long^[e] live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel explained to the people ^(AG)the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. ²⁶ And Saul also went home ^(AH)to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched. ^27 (AI)But some ^(AJ)rebels said, “How can this man save us?” So they despised him, ^(AK)and brought him no presents. But he ^[f]held his peace.

Saul Persecutes David

19 Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill ^(A)David; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, ^(B)delighted greatly in David. ² So Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. ³ And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell ^(C)you.”

⁴ Thus Jonathan ^(D)spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king ^(E)sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. ⁵ For he took his ^(F)life in his hands and ^(G)killed the Philistine, and ^(H)the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. ^(I)Why then will you ^(J)sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”

⁶ So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.” ⁷ Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence ^(K)as in times past.

⁸ And there was war again; and David went out and fought with the Philistines, ^(L)and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him.

⁹ Now ^(M)the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand. ¹⁰ Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.

^11 (N)Saul also sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” ¹² So Michal ^(O)let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped. ¹³ And Michal took ^[a]an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goats’ hair for his head, and covered it with clothes. ¹⁴ So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”

¹⁵ Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” ¹⁶ And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed, with a cover of goats’ hair for his head. ¹⁷ Then Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has escaped?”

And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! ^(P)Why should I kill you?’ ”

¹⁸ So David fled and escaped, and went to ^(Q)Samuel at ^(R)Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. ¹⁹ Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!” ²⁰ Then ^(S)Saul sent messengers to take David. ^(T)And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also ^(U)prophesied. ²¹ And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. ²² Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?”

And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.” ²³ So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then ^(V)the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ^24 (W)And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down ^(X)naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, ^(Y)“Is Saul also among the prophets?”