1 Samuel 10

And Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said to him, Has not the Lord anointed you as ruler over his people, over Israel? And you shall rule among the people of the Lord, and you shall save him out of the hand of his enemies round about. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you as ruler over his inheritance.

When you depart from me today, you will also find two men by the tombs of Rachel in the border of Benjamin, leaping greatly; and they will say to you, The donkeys which you went to seek have been found; and behold, your father has shaken off the matter of the donkeys, and is anxious about you, saying, What shall I do for my son?

And you shall go on from there, and beyond you shall come as far as the oak of Thabor; and you will find there three men going up to God at Baithel: one carrying three young goats, and one carrying three vessels of loaves, and one carrying a skin of wine.

And they will greet you with words of peace, and they will give you two firstfruits of loaves, and you shall take them from their hand.

And after these things you shall come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; Nasib the Philistine is there. And it shall be, as you enter there into the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from Bama, and before them a nabla and a drum and a pipe and a lyre, and they themselves prophesying.

And a spirit of the Lord will leap upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be turned into another man.

And it shall be, when these signs come upon you, do everything that your hand finds, for God is with you.

And you shall go down in front of Galgala; and behold, I am coming down to you to offer up a whole burnt offering and peace sacrifices. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you, and I will make known to you what you shall do.

And it came to pass that, as he turned his shoulder to depart from Samuel, God changed for him another heart; and all the signs came on that day.

And he comes from there to the hill, and behold, a band of prophets was opposite him; and a spirit of God leapt upon him, and he prophesied in their midst.

And all who had known him previously were there, and they saw, and behold, he was in the midst of the prophets. And the people said, each to his neighbour, What is this that has happened to the son of Kis? Is Saul also among the prophets?

And one of them answered and said, And who is his father? Therefore it became a proverb: Is Saul also among the prophets?

And he finished prophesying, and he comes to the hill.

And his kinsman said to him and to his servant lad, Where did you go? And they said, To seek the donkeys; and we saw that they were not there, and we went in to Samuel.

And the kinsman said to Saul, Tell me, pray, what Samuel said to you.

And Saul said to his kinsman, He plainly told me that the donkeys had been found. But the matter of the kingdom he did not tell him.

And Samuel summoned all the people to the Lord at Massepha,

and he said to the sons of Israel, Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, I brought up the sons of Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of Pharao king of Egypt and out of all the kingdoms that afflicted you.

But you today have despised God, who himself is your saviour out of all your evils and your afflictions; and you said, No, but you shall set a king over us. And now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.

And Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel, and the tribe of Beniamin was taken by lot.

And he brings the tribe of Beniamin near by clans, and the clan of Mattari was taken by lot; and they bring the clan of Mattari near by men, and Saul son of Kis was taken by lot. And he sought him, but he was not found.

And Samuel inquired further of the Lord, whether the man was coming here. And the Lord said, Behold, he is hidden among the baggage.

And he ran and takes him from there, and he set him in the midst of the people; and he was higher than all the people from the shoulder and upward.

And Samuel said to all the people, Have you seen him whom the Lord has chosen for himself, that there is none like him among all of you? And all the people knew it, and they said, Long live the king!

And Samuel told the people the ordinance of the king, and he wrote it in a book and laid it before the Lord. And Samuel sent away all the people, and each went to his own place.

And Saul went away to his house at Gabaa; and there went with Saul sons of might, whose hearts the Lord had touched.

But pestilent sons said, How will this one save us? And they dishonoured him, and they brought him no gifts.