King James Version

1 And Samuel took the horn of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, "Is it not that the LORD has anointed you as leader over His inheritance?" 2 While you are walking today from me, you will find two men with the grave of Rachel in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, "The donkeys that you went to seek have been found, and behold, your father has stopped speaking about the donkeys and is worried about you, saying, 'What shall I do for my son?'" 3 And you shall depart from there and go on, and you shall come to Elon Tabor, and there you will find three men going up to God at Bethel; one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine. 4 And they will ask you for peace, and they will give you two loaves, and you shall take from their hand. 5 After that, you will come to Gibeah of God, where there are Philistine officials, and when you enter the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place, with lyres, tambourines, flutes, and harps before them, and they will be prophesying. 6 And the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be turned into another man. 7 And it shall be when these signs come upon you, do for yourself that which your hand finds, for God is with you. 8 And you shall go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait until I come to you, and I will make known to you what you shall do. 9 And it happened, when he turned his shoulder to go from Samuel, God changed his heart, and all these signs came to pass on that day. 10 And they came there to the hill, and behold, a company of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And it was that all who knew him from yesterday and the day before saw, and behold, he was prophesying with the prophets. And the people said to each other, "What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?" 12 And a man answered from there and said, “Who is their father?” Therefore, it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 And he finished prophesying and went to the high place. 14 And Saul said to me and to his young man, "Where have you gone?" And he said, "To seek the donkeys. And when we saw that they were not there, we went to Samuel." 15 And David said to Saul, "Tell me, please, what did Samuel say to you?" 16 And Saul said to his servant, "Tell us, for the donkeys have been found, but concerning the matter of the kingdom he has not told us what Samuel said." 17 And Samuel called the people to the Lord at Mizpah. 18 And he said to the children of Israel, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I brought up Israel from Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all the kingdoms that oppress you." 19 And you today have rejected your God who is your Savior from all your evils and your troubles, and you have said to Him, "Appoint a king over us." Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands. 20 And Samuel gathered all the tribes of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. 21 And he brought near the tribe of Benjamin to the families of it, and the family of the Matrites was chosen, and Saul the son of Kish was chosen, and they sought him but he was not found. 22 And they asked again of the Lord, "Is there yet a man here?" And the Lord said, "Behold, he is hidden among the vessels." 23 And they ran and took him from there, and he stood among the people and was taller than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, "You have seen that the Lord has chosen him, for there is none like him among all the people." And all the people shouted and said, "Long live the king!" 25 And Samuel spoke to the people the judgment of the kingdom, and he wrote it in a book and laid it before the LORD, and Samuel sent all the people away, each man to his house. 26 And also Saul went to his home in Gibeah, and the men of valor who God had touched went with him. 27 And the sons of Belial said, "What will save us from this?" And they despised him and did not bring him a gift, and he was like a silent one.