10 Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him and said, Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over His heritage Israel?

² When you have left me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, The donkeys you sought are found. And your father has quit caring about them and is anxious for you, asking, What shall I do about my son?

³ Then you will go on from there and you will come to the oak of Tabor, and three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin bottle of wine.

⁴ They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand.

⁵ After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and when you come to the city, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying.

⁶ Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you will show yourself to be a prophet with them; and you will be turned into another man.

⁷ When these signs meet you, do whatever you find to be done, for God is with you.

⁸ You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you shall do.

⁹ And when [Saul] had turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all these signs came to pass that day.

¹⁰ When they came to the hill [Gibeah], behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he spoke under divine inspiration among them.

¹¹ And when all who knew Saul before saw that he spoke by inspiration among the [schooled] prophets, the people said one to another, What has come over [him, who is nobody but] the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

¹² One from that same place answered, But who is the father of the others? So it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?

¹³ When [Saul] had ended his inspired speaking, he went to the high place.

¹⁴ Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, Where did you go? And Saul said, To look for the donkeys, and when we found them nowhere, we went to Samuel.

¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, Tell me, what did Samuel say to you?

¹⁶ And Saul said to his uncle, He told us plainly that the donkeys were found. But of the matter of the kingdom of which Samuel spoke he told him nothing.

¹⁷ And Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah

¹⁸ And said to the Israelites, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: It was I Who brought up Israel out of Egypt and delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians and of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.

¹⁹ But you have this day rejected your God, Who Himself saves you from all your calamities and distresses; and you have said to Him, No! Set a king over us. So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.

²⁰ And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken [probably by lot].

²¹ When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken. And Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he could not be found.

²² Therefore they inquired of the Lord further, if the man would yet come back. And the Lord answered, Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.^(A)

²³ They ran and brought him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of them.

²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen, that none like him is among all the people? And all the people shouted and said, Long live the king!

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom [defining the position of the king in relation to God and to the people], and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home.

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 fellows said, How can this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no gift. But he held his peace and was as if deaf.