Saul the King

¹⁷ Then Samuel called the ^(A)people together to Yahweh at Mizpah; ¹⁸ and he said to the sons of Israel, “^(B)Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ ¹⁹ But you ^(C)have today rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have ^[a]said, ‘No, but set a king over us!’ So now, ^(D)take your stand before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans.”

²⁰ Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. ²¹ Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the Matrite family was taken. And Saul the son of Kish was taken; but they looked for him, and he could not be found. ²² Therefore ^(E)they inquired further of Yahweh, “Has the man come here yet?” So Yahweh said, “Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.” ²³ So they ran and took him from there, and he stood among the people. And ^(F)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. ²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(G)whom Yahweh has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people shouted and said, “^[b](H)Long live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel spoke with the people about ^(I)the legal judgments of the kingdom and wrote them in the book and ^(J)placed it before Yahweh. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house. ²⁶ Saul also went ^(K)to his house at Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him. ²⁷ But certain ^[c](L)vile men said, “How can this one save us?” And they despised him and ^(M)did not bring him any present. But he kept silent.