Beginning

Samuel Anoints Saul

9 Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. ² He had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man, and there was not a better looking man among the children of Israel. From his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people.

³ Now the donkeys of Kish, the father of Saul, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, “Take now one of the servants with you, and arise, go find the donkeys.” ⁴ He passed through the mountains of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them.

⁵ When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, “Come, and let us return lest my father stop caring about the donkeys and worry about us.”

⁶ He said to him, “Look, there is in this city a man of God, and he is highly respected. All that he speaks surely comes about. Now let us go there. Perhaps he can show us the way that we should go.”

⁷ Then Saul said to his servant, “But listen, if we go, what will we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our satchels, 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 in my hand a quarter of a shekel^[a] of silver. I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way.” ⁹ (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said, “Come, and let us go to the seer.” For he that is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)

¹⁰ Then Saul said to his servant, “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, they found young women going out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?”

¹² And they answered them and said, “He is. See, he is ahead of you. Hurry now, for today he came to the city, because there is a sacrifice for the people in the high place today. ¹³ As soon as you come into the city, you will 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. Afterwards those invited will eat. Now therefore, go up, for about this time of the day you will find him there.”

¹⁴ So they went up into the city. And when they entered, Samuel was coming toward them to go up to the high place.

¹⁵ Now the Lord had revealed in the ear of Samuel one day before Saul came, saying, ¹⁶ “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin. And you will anoint him to be leader over My people Israel, that he may save My people out of the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come unto Me.”

¹⁷ When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! This one will rule over My people.”

¹⁸ Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, “Tell me, please, where is the seer’s house?”

¹⁹ Samuel answered Saul, and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you will eat with me today. And tomorrow I will let you go, and will tell you then all that is in your heart. ²⁰ As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not your worry about them for they have been found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on all your father’s house?”

²¹ And Saul answered and said, “Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me this way?”

²² And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the hall, and gave them a place at the head of those invited, which were about thirty men. ²³ Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Set it aside.’ ”

²⁴ Then the cook took up the thigh and what was on it and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, “Here is what was set aside. Set it before you and eat, because it has been kept for you until this time, since I said I have invited the people.” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

²⁵ When they had come down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul up on the roof. ²⁶ They arose early, and it was at the rising of the dawn that Samuel called to Saul on the roof, saying, “Get up, that I may send you away.” So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went to the street. ²⁷ As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us.” So he passed on. “But you stand still and I will proclaim to you the word of God.”

10 Then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head. And he kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you over His inheritance as ruler? ² When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. And they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys, and worries for you, saying, “What will I do for my son?” ’

³ “Then you will go forward from there, and you will come to the plain of Tabor. And there you will meet three men going up to God to Bethel: one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. ⁴ And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will receive from their hands.

⁵ “After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is. And when you come there to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre before them. And they will prophesy. ⁶ And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them. And you will be turned into another man. ⁷ And it will be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires; for God is with you.

⁸ “Then you will go down before me to Gilgal. And listen, I will be coming down to you, in order to offer burnt offerings, and to offer sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you will wait, until I come to you. Then I will make known to you what you will do.”

⁹ And it happened, that when he turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart. And all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they came to the hill, a group of prophets met him. And the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ So when all who previously knew him saw that he prophesied among the prophets, the people said one to another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹² And a man from there answered and said, “But who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ And Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?”

And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw that they were nowhere around, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶ Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found.” But the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not mention.

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷ Therefore Samuel called the people together unto the Lord at Mizpah. ¹⁸ And he said to the children of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you.’ ¹⁹ But you have today rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and your distresses. And you have said to Him, ‘No, but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your clans.”

²⁰ So Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. ²¹ Then he brought near the tribe of Benjamin by its families. And the family of Matri was chosen. Then Saul the son of Kish was taken. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ²² Therefore they inquired again of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?”

And the Lord answered, “He has hidden himself among the equipment.”

²³ So they ran and took him from there. When he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. ²⁴ Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? Truly there is none like him among all the people.”

And all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king.”

²⁵ Samuel told the people the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in a book, and laid them up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.

²⁶ Saul also went home to Gibeah. And there went with him a band of valiant men whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ But some worthless men said, “How will this man save us?” And they despised him, and did not bring him a present. But he remained silent.

Saul Rescues Jabesh Gilead

11 Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.”

² Nahash the Ammonite answered them, “On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may pluck out all your right eyes. So I will inflict it as a reproach upon all Israel.”

³ The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel. And then if there is no one to rescue us, we will come out to you.”

⁴ So the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke the words in the ears of the people. And all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. ⁵ Now Saul was coming out of the field after the cattle, and Saul said, “Why are the people weeping?” And they reported to him the words of the men of Jabesh.

⁶ The Spirit of God came strongly upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became very angry. ⁷ He took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces. And he sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so will it be done to his oxen.” And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out as one man. ⁸ When he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

⁹ They said to the messengers that came, “Thus will you say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have help.’ ” And the messengers came and reported it to the men of Jabesh and they were glad. ¹⁰ Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us all that seems good to you.”

¹¹ On the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those surviving were scattered, so that even two of them were not left together.

Saul Confirmed as King

¹² The people said to Samuel, “Who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.”

¹³ Saul said, “There will not be a man put to death this day. For today the Lord has worked deliverance in Israel.”

¹⁴ Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.” ¹⁵ All the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. And there they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord. And there Saul and all Israel’s fighting men rejoiced greatly.

Samuel’s Farewell Address

12 Then Samuel said to all Israel: “I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you. ² And now, see, the king walks before you, but I am old and gray-headed. As for my sons, they are with you. But I have walked before you from my childhood to this day. ³ Behold, here I am. Witness against me before the Lord and before His anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes with? Indeed I will restore it you.”

⁴ They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us. Neither have you taken anything from any man’s hand.”

⁵ He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.”

And they answered, “He is witness.”

⁶ Samuel said to the people: “It is the Lord that prepared Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ Now therefore stand still that I may reason with you before the Lord, concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord, which He did for you and your fathers.

⁸ “When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to the Lord, the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.

⁹ “When they forgot the Lord their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. ¹⁰ They cried to the Lord, and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ ¹¹ The Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Bedan,^[b] Jephthah, and Samuel. And He delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelled in safety.

¹² “When you saw that Nahash, king of the Ammonites, came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king will reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king. ¹³ Now therefore, look at the king whom you have chosen and for whom you have asked! And see that the Lord has set a king over you. ¹⁴ If you will fear the Lord, and serve Him, and obey His voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king that reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God. ¹⁵ But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then will the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers.

¹⁶ “Even now, take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord is doing before your eyes. ¹⁷ Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord. And He will send thunder and rain, that you may know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, by asking for yourselves a king.”

¹⁸ So Samuel called to the Lord. And the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹ All the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we will not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”

²⁰ Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness, only do not turn aside from following the Lord, and serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹ But do not turn aside, for then you would be going after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. ²² As befits His great name, the Lord will not abandon His people. For it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. ²³ Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. But I will teach you the good and the right way. ²⁴ Fear the Lord; serve Him in truth with all your heart, and consider what great things He has done for you. ²⁵ But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.”