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¹ Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that Yahweh has anointed you to be leader over his inheritance?² When you depart from me today, then you shall find two men by Rachel's tomb, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, The donkeys which you went to seek were found; and, look, your father has left off caring for the donkeys, and is anxious for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?³ Then you shall go on forward from there, and you shall come to the oak of Tabor; and you shall meet there three men going up to God to Beth-el, one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine:⁴ and they will salute you, and give you two wave offerings of bread, which you shall receive of their hand.⁵ After that you shall come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is: and it shall come to pass, when you come there to the city, that you shall meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying:⁶ and the Spirit of Yahweh will come mightily on you, and you shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man.⁷ And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as occasion shall serve you; for God is with you.⁸ And you shall go down before me to Gilgal; and, look, I will come down to you, to offer burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings: seven days you shall tarry, until I come to you, and show you what you shall do.

⁹ And it was so, that, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.¹⁰ And when they came there to the hill, look, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them.¹¹ And it came to pass, when all that knew him formerly saw that, look, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?¹² And one of the same place answered and said, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?¹³ And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.¹⁴ And Saul's uncle said to him and to his attendant, Where did you go? And he said, To seek the donkeys; and when we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel.¹⁵ And Saul's uncle said, Tell me, I pray you, what Samuel said to you.¹⁶ And Saul said to his uncle, He told us plainly that the donkeys were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spoke, he didn't tell him.

¹⁷ And Samuel called the people together to Yahweh to Mizpah;¹⁸ and he said to the sons of Israel, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you:¹⁹ but you have this day rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, Surely set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes, and by your thousands.²⁰ So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.²¹ And he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families; and the family of the Matrites was taken; and Saul the son of Kish was taken: but when they sought him, he could not be found.²² Therefore they asked of Yahweh further, Is there yet a man to come here? And Yahweh answered, Look, he has hid himself among the baggage.²³ And they ran and fetched him from there; and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen, that there is none like him along 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, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Yahweh. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.²⁶ And Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and there went with him the host, whose hearts God had touched.²⁷ But certain worthless fellows said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no present. But he held his peace.