1Then Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him, and he said, “Has not Yahweh anointed you as ruler over his inheritance?”
2When you go 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 that you went to seek have been found. And now your father has let go the matter of the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’
3Then you will pass on from there and beyond, and you will come to the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you: one carrying three young goats, one carrying three loaves of bread, and one carrying a skin of wine.
4They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, and you shall take them from their hand.
5After that you will come to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine garrison. And it will happen, when you come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place, and before them a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre, and they will be prophesying.
6Then the Spirit of Yahweh will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be turned into another man.
7And it will happen, when these signs come to you, do for yourself whatever your hand finds, for God is with you.
8Then you shall go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I will be coming down to you to offer up burnt offerings and to sacrifice fellowship offerings. Seven days you shall wait until I come to you, and I will make known to you what you are to do.
9And it happened that as he turned his shoulder to go from Samuel, God turned for him another heart, and all these signs came to pass on that day.
10When they came there to Gibeah, behold, a band of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied in their midst.
11And it happened that all who had known him previously saw, and behold, he was prophesying with the prophets, and the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”
12And a man from there answered and said, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
13When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.
14Then 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, we came to Samuel.”
15And Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me, please, what did Samuel say to you?”
16And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingship, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him.
17Then Samuel summoned the people to Yahweh at Mizpah,
18and he said to the sons of Israel, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’
19But you today have rejected your God, who is the one who saves you from all your evils and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘No—set a king over us!’ So now present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans.”
20Then Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
21Then he brought near the tribe of Benjamin by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken; and Saul son of Kish was taken. But they sought him, and he was not found.
22So they inquired again of Yahweh, “Has the man come here yet?” And Yahweh said, “Behold, he is hiding himself among the baggage.”
23So they ran and took him from there, and he stood in the midst of the people, and he was taller than all the people from his shoulder upward.
24And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom Yahweh has chosen? For there is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!”
25Then Samuel spoke to the people the regulation of the kingship, and he wrote it in a book and laid it up before Yahweh. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his house.
26And Saul also went to his house at Gibeah, and the men of valor whose hearts God had touched went with him.
27But worthless men said, “How can this one save us?” And they despised him and brought him no gift. But he kept silent.
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