10 ¹ Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him; he said, “The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the Lord, and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around. Now this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you ruler^[a] over his heritage:^{(A) 2} When you depart from me today you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has stopped worrying about them and is worrying about you, saying: “What shall I do about my son?” ’^{(B) 3} Then you shall go on from there further and come to the oak of Tabor; 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 of wine.^{(C) 4} They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from them. ⁵ After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim,^[b] at the place where the Philistine garrison is; there, as you come to the town, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the shrine with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre playing in front of them; they will be in a prophetic frenzy.^{(D) 6} Then the spirit of the Lord will possess you, and you will be in a prophetic frenzy along with them and be turned into a different person.^{(E) 7} Now when these signs meet you, do whatever you see fit to do, for God is with you.^{(F) 8} And you shall go down to Gilgal ahead of me; then I will come down to you to present burnt offerings and offer sacrifices of well-being. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”^(G)

Saul Prophesies

⁹ As he turned away to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day.^{(H) 10} When they were going from there to Gibeah,^[c] a band of prophets met him, and the spirit of God possessed him, and he fell into a prophetic frenzy along with them.^{(I) 11} When all who knew him before saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”^{(J) 12} A man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When his prophetic frenzy had ended, he went home.^[d]

¹⁴ Saul’s uncle said to him and to the young man, “Where did you go?” And he replied, “To seek the donkeys, and when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.” ¹⁶ Saul said to his uncle, “He told us that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingship, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.^(K)

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷ Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah^{(L) 18} and said to the Israelites, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’^{(M) 19} But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said, ‘No, but set a king over us.’ Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”^(N)

²⁰ Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.^{(O) 21} He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man,^[e] and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ²² So they inquired again of the Lord, “Did the man come here?”^[f] And the Lord said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”^{(P) 23} Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them.^{(Q) 24} Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”^(R)

²⁵ Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people back to their homes.^{(S) 26} Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went warriors whose hearts God had touched.^{(T) 27} But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.^[g](U)

Saul Defeats the Ammonites

11 About a month later,^[h] Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”^{(V) 2} But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, namely, that I gouge out everyone’s right eye and thus put disgrace upon all Israel.”^{(W) 3} The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days’ respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.” ⁴ When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the hearing of the people, and all the people wept aloud.^(X)

⁵ Now Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and Saul said, “What is the matter with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the message from the inhabitants of Jabesh. ⁶ And the spirit of God came upon Saul in power when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled.^{(Y) 7} He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one.^{(Z) 8} When he mustered them at Bezek, those from Israel were three hundred thousand and those from Judah seventy^[i] thousand.^{(AA) 9} They said to the messengers who had come, “Thus shall you say to the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead: Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have deliverance.” When the messengers came and told the inhabitants of Jabesh, they rejoiced. ¹⁰ So the inhabitants of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.”^{(AB) 11} The next day Saul put the people in three companies. At the morning watch they came into the camp and cut down the Ammonites until the heat of the day, and those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.^(AC)

¹² The people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Give them to us so that we may put them to death.”^{(AD) 13} But Saul said, “No one shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has brought deliverance to Israel.”^(AE)

¹⁴ Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.”^{(AF) 15} So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.^(AG)

Samuel’s Farewell Address

12 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to you in all that you have said to me and have set a king over you.^{(AH) 2} See, it is the king who leads you now; I am old and gray, but my sons are with you. I have led you from my youth until this day.^{(AI) 3} Here I am; testify 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 taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me,^[j] and I will restore it to you.”^{(AJ) 4} They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from the hand of anyone.” 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 said, “He is witness.”^(AK)

⁶ Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who^[k] appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of the land of Egypt.^{(AL) 7} Now, therefore, take your stand so that I may enter into judgment with you before the Lord, and I will declare to you^[l] all the righteous acts of the Lord that he performed for you and for your ancestors.^{(AM) 8} When Jacob went into Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them,^[m] then your ancestors cried to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.^{(AN) 9} But they forgot the Lord their God, and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of King Jabin of^[n] Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.^{(AO) 10} Then they cried to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Astartes, but now rescue us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’^{(AP) 11} And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak,^[o] and Jephthah, and Samson^[p] and rescued you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.^{(AQ) 12} But when you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ though the Lord your God was your king.^{(AR) 13} See, here is the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; see, the Lord has set a king over you.^{(AS) 14} If you will fear the Lord and serve him and heed his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well;^{(AT) 15} but if you will not heed the voice of the Lord but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.^{[q](AU) 16} Now, therefore, take your stand and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.^{(AV) 17} Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain, and you shall know and see that the wickedness that you have done in the sight of the Lord is great in demanding a king for yourselves.”^{(AW) 18} So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.^(AX)

¹⁹ All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins the evil of demanding a king for ourselves.”^{(AY) 20} And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart, ²¹ and do not turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or save, for they are useless.^{(AZ) 22} For the Lord will not cast away his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.^{(BA) 23} Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.^{(BB) 24} Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you.^{(BC) 25} But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”^(BD)