²¹ Then ^(A)they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul ^(B)the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

Saul Anointed King

10 ^(A)Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head ^(B)and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince^[a] over ^(C)his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince^[b] over his heritage.

The Lord Rejects Saul

15 And Samuel said to Saul, ^(A)“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord.

¹² And when you saw that ^(A)Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, ^(B)you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ ^(C)when the Lord your God was your king. ¹³ And now ^(D)behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, ^(E)the Lord has set a king over you. ¹⁴ If you will ^(F)fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. ¹⁵ But ^(G)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then ^(H)the hand of the Lord will be against you and ^(I)your king.^{[a] 16} Now therefore ^(J)stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. ^17 (K)Is it not wheat harvest today? ^(L)I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that ^(M)your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” ¹⁸ So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, ^(N)and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹ And all the people said to Samuel, ^(O)“Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”

¹⁵ So all the people went to ^(A)Gilgal, and there they made Saul king ^(B)before the Lord in Gilgal. There ^(C)they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

²¹ He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot;^[a] and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ^22 (A)So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” ²³ Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, ^(B)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. ²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(C)whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, ^(D)“Long live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people ^(E)the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. ²⁶ Saul also went to his home ^(F)at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched.

⁵ and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. ^(A)Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, ^(B)for they have not rejected you, ^(C)but they have rejected me from being king over them. ⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. ⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them ^(D)and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Samuel's Warning Against Kings

¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. ¹¹ He said, ^(E)“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: ^(F)he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. ¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some ^(G)to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ^14 (H)He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men^[a] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, ^(I)but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The Lord Grants Israel's Request

¹⁹ But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, ^20 (J)that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹ And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. ²² And the Lord said to Samuel, ^(K)“Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

Saul Chosen to Be King

9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was ^(L)Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. ² And he had a son whose name was Saul, ^(M)a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. ^(N)From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.