^10:1Then Samuel took a small container of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s¹ head. Samuel² kissed him and said, “The Lord has chosen you³ to lead his people Israel! You will rule over the Lord’s people and you will deliver them from the power of the enemies who surround them. This will be your sign that the Lord has chosen⁴ you as leader over his inheritance.⁵^10:2When you leave me today, you will find two men near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah on Benjamin’s border. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you have gone looking for have been found. Your father is no longer concerned about the donkeys but has become anxious about you two!⁶ He is asking, “What should I do about my son?” ’

^10:3“As you continue on from there, you will come to the tall tree of Tabor. At that point three men who are going up to God at Bethel⁷ will meet you. One of them will be carrying three young goats, one of them will be carrying three round loaves of bread, and one of them will be carrying a container of wine. ^10:4They will ask you how you’re doing and will give you two loaves of bread. You will accept them. ^10:5Afterward you will go to Gibeah of God, where there are Philistine officials.⁸ When you enter the town, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place. They will have harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying. ^10:6Then the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.

^10:7“When these signs have taken place, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God will be with you.⁹^10:8You will go down to Gilgal before me. I am going to join you there to offer burnt offerings and to make peace offerings. You should wait for seven days, until I arrive and tell you what to do.”

Saul Becomes King

^10:9As Saul¹⁰ turned¹¹ to leave Samuel, God changed his inmost person.¹² All these signs happened on that very day. ^10:10When Saul and his servant¹³ arrived at Gibeah, a company of prophets was coming out to meet him. Then the spirit of God rushed upon Saul¹⁴ and he prophesied among them. ^10:11When everyone who had known him previously saw him prophesying with the prophets, the people all asked one another, “What on earth has happened to the son of Kish? Does even Saul belong with the prophets?”

^10:12A man who was from there replied, “And who is their father?” Therefore this became a proverb: “Is even Saul among the prophets?” ^10:13When Saul¹⁵ had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

^10:14Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?” Saul¹⁶ replied, “To look for the donkeys. But when we realized they were lost,¹⁷ we went to Samuel.” ^10:15Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.”¹⁸^10:16Saul said to his uncle, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul¹⁹ did not tell him what Samuel had said about the matter of kingship.

^10:17Then Samuel called the people together before the Lord at Mizpah. ^10:18He said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt and I delivered you from the power²⁰ of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you. ^10:19But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No!²¹ Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’ ”

^10:20Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. ^10:21Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of Matri was chosen by lot. At last Saul son of Kish was chosen by lot. But when they looked for him, he was nowhere to be found. ^10:22So they inquired again of the Lord, “Has the man arrived here yet?” The Lord said, “He has hidden himself among the equipment.”²²

^10:23So they ran and brought him from there. When he took his position among the people, he stood head and shoulders above them all. ^10:24Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? Indeed, there is no one like him among all the people!” All the people shouted out, “Long live the king!”

^10:25Then Samuel talked to the people about how the kingship would work.²³ He wrote it all down on a scroll and set it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away to their homes. ^10:26Even Saul went to his home in Gibeah. With him went some brave men whose hearts God had touched. ^10:27But some wicked men²⁴ said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it.²⁵

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

^11:1¹ Nahash² the Ammonite marched³ against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

^11:2But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “The only way I will make a treaty with you is if you let me gouge out the right eye of every one of you and in so doing humiliate all Israel!”

^11:3The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Leave us alone for seven days so that we can send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If there is no one who can deliver us, we will come out voluntarily to you.”

^11:4When the messengers went to Gibeah (where Saul lived)⁴ and informed the people of these matters, all the people wept loudly.⁵^11:5Now Saul was walking behind the⁶ oxen as he came from the field. Saul asked, “What has happened to the people? Why are they weeping?” So they told him about⁷ the men of Jabesh.

^11:6The Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became very angry. ^11:7He took a pair⁸ of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, “Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out as one army.⁹^11:8When Saul counted them at Bezek, the Israelites were 300,000¹⁰ strong and the men of Judah numbered 30,000.¹¹

^11:9They said to the messengers who had come, “Here’s what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.’ ” When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy. ^11:10The men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you¹² and you can do with us whatever you wish.”¹³

^11:11The next day Saul placed the people in three groups. They went to the Ammonite camp during the morning watch and struck them¹⁴ down until the hottest part of the day. The survivors scattered; no two of them remained together.

Saul Is Established as King

^11:12Then the people said to Samuel, “Who were the ones asking, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Hand over those men so we may execute them!” ^11:13But Saul said, “No one will be killed on this day. For today the Lord has given Israel a victory!” ^11:14Samuel said to the people, “Come on! Let’s go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.” ^11:15So all the people went to Gilgal, where¹⁵ they established Saul as king in the Lord’s presence. They offered up peace offerings there in the Lord’s presence. Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.

^12:1Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done¹ everything you requested.² I have given you a king.³^12:2Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day. ^12:3Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king.⁴ Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me,⁵ and I will return it to you!”

^12:4They replied, “You have not wronged us or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.” ^12:5He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king⁶ is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.”⁷ They said, “He is witness!”

^12:6Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors⁸ up from the land of Egypt. ^12:7Now take your positions, so I may confront you⁹ before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors.¹⁰^12:8When Jacob entered Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the Lord. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

^12:9“But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave¹¹ them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s¹² army,¹³ and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. ^12:10Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted,¹⁴ ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth.¹⁵ Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’¹⁶^12:11So the Lord sent Jerub-Baal,¹⁷ Barak,¹⁸ Jephthah, and Samuel,¹⁹ and he delivered you from the hand of the enemies all around you, and you were able to live securely.

^12:12“When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’—even though the Lord your God is your king! ^12:13Now look! Here is the king you have chosen—the one that you asked for! Look, the Lord has given you a king! ^12:14If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him²⁰ and not rebelling against what he says,²¹ and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well.²²^12:15But if you don’t obey²³ the Lord and rebel against what the Lord says, the hand of the Lord will be against both you and your king.²⁴

^12:16“So now, take your positions and watch this great thing that the Lord is about to do in your sight. ^12:17Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he…

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Footnotes

1 Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 Heb “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you?” The question draws attention to the fact and is a rhetorical way of affirming the Lord’s choice of Saul. The translation reflects the rhetorical force of the question.
4 That is, “anointed.”
5 The reads simply “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you over his inheritance for a leader?” The translation follows the . The apparently suffers from parablepsis, whereby a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the expression “the Lord has anointed you” to the second occurrence of this expression at the end of v. 1. This mistake caused the accidental omission of the intervening material in the , which appears to preserve the original Hebrew text here.
6 In the Hebrew text the pronoun you is plural, suggesting that Saul’s father was concerned about his son and the servant who accompanied him.
7 For location see ; ; ; ; .
8 Or “sentries.” Some translate “outpost” () or “garrison” (, , ) here (see 1 Sam 13:3). The noun is plural in the Hebrew text, but the and other ancient witnesses read a singular noun here.
9 In light of Saul’s commission to be Israel’s deliverer (see v. 1), it is likely that some type of military action against the Philistines (see v. 5) is implied.
10 Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 Heb “turned his shoulder.”
12 Heb “God turned for him another heart”; , “gave him another heart”; , “changed Saul’s heart”; “gave Saul a new nature”; “made Saul feel like a different person.”
13 Two medieval Hebrew , the , and the have the singular “he” (in which case the referent would be Saul alone). Heb “they”; the referents (Saul and his servant) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 Heb “him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 Heb “And we saw that they were not.”
18 In the and the pronoun “you” is singular, referring specifically to Saul. In the it is plural, including Saul’s servant as well.
19 Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 Heb “hand” (also later in this verse).
21 The translation follows many medieval Hebrew , the , the , and in reading לֹא (lo’, “not”) rather than the לוֹ (lo; “to him”). Some witnesses combine the variants, resulting in a conflated text. For example, a few medieval Hebrew have לֹא לוֹ (lo lo’; “to him, ‘No.’ ”). A few others have לֹא לִי (li lo’; “to me, ‘No.’ ”).
22 Or “baggage” (so many English versions); “stuff”; “supplies.”
23 Heb “the regulation of the kingship.” This probably refers to the regulations pertaining to kingship given to Moses (see Deut 17:14–20).
24 Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).
25 In place of the (“and it was like one being silent”) the has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran of Samuel, which has here “about a month.” However, it seems best to stay with the here even though it is difficult.
1 4QSama and Josephus ( 6.68–71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the . The adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “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.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the . However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (), , and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (), .
2 The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.
3 Heb “went up and camped”; , “went up and besieged.”
4 Heb “to Gibeah of Saul.”
5 Heb “lifted their voice and wept.”
6 Or perhaps, “his oxen.” On this use of the definite article see 2: §137.f.
7 Heb “the matters of.”
8 Heb “yoke.”
9 Heb “like one man.”
10 The and two Old Latin read 600,000 here, rather than the ’s 300,000.
11 The , two Old Latin , and a Qumran read 70,000 here, rather than the ’s 30,000.
12 The second masculine plural forms in this quotation indicate that Nahash and his army are addressed.
13 Heb “according to all that is good in your eyes.”
14 Heb “Ammon.” By metonymy the name “Ammon” is used collectively for the soldiers in the Ammonite army.
15 Heb “and there in Gilgal.”
1 Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.”
2 Heb “to all which you said to me.”
3 Heb “and I have installed a king over you.”
4 Heb “anointed [one].”
5 The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 Heb “anointed [one].”
7 Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.”
8 Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 8).
9 Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” ( similar); “and I shall arraign you.”
10 Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”
11 Heb “sold” (so , , , ); “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; “he let them be conquered by Sisera.”
12 For location see ; ; ; .
13 Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.”
14 Heb “and said.”
15 Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity. The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in .
16 After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.
17 Jerub-Baal (יְרֻבַּעַל) is also known as Gideon (see Judg 6:32). The Book of Judges uses both names for him.
18 The has “Bedan” (בְּדָן) here (cf. , , ). But a deliverer by this name is not elsewhere mentioned in the OT. The translation follows the and the in reading “Barak.”
19 In the ancient versions there is some confusion with regard to these names, both with regard to the particular names selected for mention and with regard to the order in which they are listed. For example, the has “Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel.” But the has “Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, and Samuel,” while the has “Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.”
20 Heb “and you listen to his voice.”
21 Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” So also in v. 15.
22 The words “all will be well” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
23 Heb “listen to the voice of.”
24 The reads “your king” rather than the ’s “your fathers.” The latter makes little sense here. Some follow , but translate “as it was against your fathers.” See P. K. McCarter, 1 Samuel (), .