Saul Is Anointed as King

10 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, “Has not^[a] Yahweh anointed you as leader over his inheritance? ² As you go from with me today,^[b] you will find two men near the burial site of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, ‘The female donkeys that you went to search for have been found.’ Now look, your father is no longer concerned about^[c] the female donkeys and has begun worrying about you,^[d] saying, ‘What should I do about my son?’ ³ Then you will go on from there and further you will come to the oak of Tabor. There three men will meet you, who are going up to God at Bethel. One will be carrying three male kid goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a skin of wine. ⁴ They will ask how you are doing^[e] and will give you two loaves, which you will take from their hand. ⁵ After this, you will come to the Gibeah of God,^[f] where there are sentries^[g] of the Philistines. Just as you enter^[h] the town there, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place, with harp, tambourine, flute, and zither before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then the Spirit of Yahweh will rush upon you,^[i] and you will prophesy with them; and you will turn into a different person.^{[j] 7} When these signs come to you, do for yourself what your hand finds to do, for God will be with you. ⁸ Then you will go down before me to Gilgal. Look, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to make^[k] fellowship offerings. You must wait seven days until I come to you. Then I will let you know what you should do.” ⁹ Just as he turned^[l] his shoulder to depart from Samuel, God changed his^[m] heart. And all these signs were fulfilled on that day.

¹⁰ When they went from there to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him,^[n] and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And when^[o] all who knew him formerly^[p] saw that he prophesied with prophets, the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² And a man from there responded and said, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he finished prophesying, he went to the high place. ¹⁴ Then Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To search for the female donkeys; and when we saw none, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵ So Saul’s uncle said to him, “Please tell me, what did Samuel say to you?” ¹⁶ Then Saul said to his uncle, “He told us for certain that the female donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingship of which Samuel had spoken.