Samuel anoints Saul to be king
1Then Samuel took a little jar of olive oil and he poured it over Saul's head. He then kissed Saul and said to him: ‘The Lord has chosen you to be the leader of his people. 2When you leave me today, you will see 2 men at the tomb of Rachel at the town of Zelzah in the land of Benjamin. They will say to you: “They have found the donkeys that you were looking for. Your father is no longer worried about the donkeys, but your father asks what he can do to get his son back.”
3When you go on from there, you will see 3 men at the big tree of Tabor who are going to the tent of the Lord at Bethel. One man will carry 3 goats, another man will carry 3 loaves of bread and another man a skin-bag with wine. 4They will ask how you are and they will give you 2 loaves of bread, and you will take them. 5Then you will come to the town of Gibeah of God. There will be a lot of Philistine soldiers there. When you come near the town you will see a group of prophets who come from the altar on the hill. They will make music with harps, tambourines, flutes and lyres and they will prophesy.
6Then the Spirit of God will come into you and you will also prophesy and the Lord will change you. You will be like a different person. 7When all these things that I said happen to you, do what you must do because you will know that the Lord is with you. 8You have to go to the town of Gilgal before me. I will come to you to sacrifice burnt-offerings and meal-offerings. You must wait there for me for 7 days until I come, and then I will tell you what you must do.’
Saul becomes king
9When Saul turned_around to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart. His whole life changed. Everything that Samuel said happened to Saul on that day. 10When Saul and his servant came to the town of Gibeah, a group of prophets came to him. The Spirit of God came into Saul and he prophesied with the prophets. 11People who knew Saul and saw him prophesying were amazed and said to each other: ‘What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also one of the prophets?’
12Someone who lived there asked: ‘Who is their father?’ That is why people started to say: ‘Is Saul also one of the prophets?’
13When Saul had finished prophesying, he went to the altar on the hill. 14His uncle asked him and his servant: ‘Where did you go?’ Saul said: ‘We went to look for the donkeys and when we could not find them, we went to Samuel.’
15Saul's uncle said: ‘Tell me what Samuel said.’ 16Saul said to his uncle: ‘He just told us that they had found the donkeys.’ Samuel had also told Saul that he would become king, but Saul said nothing about that.
17Then Samuel called all the people to come together at Mizpah. 18There he said to the Israelites: ‘The Lord God of Israel says: “I brought you out of Egypt and I saved you from the Egyptians and all the people who oppressed you.” 19But today you told God that you do not want Him to be your King. He is the One who always saves you when you suffer and when you have trouble, but you said God should choose another king for you, a king who must rule over you. Now come and stand before the Lord, every tribe and every clan.’
20Then Samuel said each tribe_of_Israel must come forward and God chose the Benjamin tribe. 21Then Samuel said the clans of the Benjamin tribe must come forward and God chose the Matri clan. Then the Lord chose Saul, the son of Kish. But when they looked for Saul, they could not find him. 22Then they asked the Lord: ‘Is Saul here?’ And the Lord said: ‘Yes, he is hiding among some things.’
23They ran and they brought Saul out. When he stood among the other people, he was bigger than they were, and a head taller. 24Samuel said to all the people: ‘Here is the man whom God has chosen. There is no one like him.’ Then all the people shouted: ‘Long live the king.’
25Samuel told the people everything that the king could do and he wrote it in a book and he put the book in the tent of the Lord. Then he sent everyone home. 26Saul also went to his home in Gibeah. There were a few brave men who went with him. God changed their hearts and they wanted to go with Saul and serve God. 27Some bad people said: ‘This man can do nothing for us.’ They did not respect him and they did not give him any gifts. But Saul did not say anything.
