1 Samuel 10–12

Saul Is Anointed as King

10Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, “Has not^a Yahweh anointed you as leader over his inheritance? ²As you go from with me today,^b you will find two men near the burial site of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, ‘The female donkeys that you went to search for have been found.’ Now look, your father is no longer concerned about^c the female donkeys and has begun worrying about you,^d saying, ‘What should I do about my son?’ ³Then you will go on from there and further you will come to the oak of Tabor. There three men will meet you, who are going up to God at Bethel. One will be carrying three male kid goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a skin of wine. ⁴They will ask how you are doing^e and will give you two loaves, which you will take from their hand. ⁵After this, you will come to the Gibeah of God,^f where there are sentries^g of the Philistines. Just as you enter^h the town there, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place, with harp, tambourine, flute, and zither before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶Then the Spirit of Yahweh will rush upon you,ⁱ and you will prophesy with them; and you will turn into a different person.^{j 7}When these signs come to you, do for yourself what your hand finds to do, for God will be with you. ⁸Then you will go down before me to Gilgal. Look, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to make^k fellowship offerings. You must wait seven days until I come to you. Then I will let you know what you should do.” ⁹Just as he turned^l his shoulder to depart from Samuel, God changed his^m heart. And all these signs were fulfilled on that day.

¹⁰When they went from there to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him,ⁿ and he prophesied among them. ¹¹And when^o all who knew him formerly^p saw that he prophesied with prophets, the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹²And a man from there responded and said, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³When he finished prophesying, he went to the high place. ¹⁴Then Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To search for the female donkeys; and when we saw none, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵So Saul’s uncle said to him, “Please tell me, what did Samuel say to you?” ¹⁶Then Saul said to his uncle, “He told us for certain that the female donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingship of which Samuel had spoken.

¹⁷Then Samuel summoned the people to Yahweh at Mizpah, ¹⁸and he said to the Israelites,^q “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ ¹⁹But you today have rejected your God who always delivers you from all of your calamities and your distresses. You have said to him, ‘No, but you must appoint a king over us!’ So then present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans.”

²⁰So Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected by lot. ²¹Then he brought near the tribe of Benjamin according to its families, and the family of Matri was selected by lot. Then Saul the son of Kish was chosen, and they sought him, but he could not be found. ²²So they inquired again of Yahweh, “Did the man come here?” ^r And Yahweh said, “Look, he is hiding himself among the baggage.” ²³So they ran and took him from there, and when he took his stand among the people, he was taller than all the people from his shoulders and up. ²⁴Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen? For there is no one like him among all the people!” And all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!”

²⁵Then Samuel told the people the custom of the kingship, and he wrote the rules down on a scroll and laid it before Yahweh. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own house. ²⁶And Saul also went to his house at Gibeah, and the troops whose hearts^s God had touched went with him. ²⁷However, some worthless men^t said, “How can this man deliver us?” So they despised him and brought no gift to him, but he kept silent.^u

Saul Defeats the Ammonites

11Now Nahash the Ammonite went up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us^a and we will serve you.” ²But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty^b with you, by gouging out the right eye of each of you, so that I can make it a disgrace for all Israel.” ³So the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Leave us alone for seven days so that we may send messengers in all the territory of Israel, and if there is no deliverer for us, then we will come out to you.” ⁴When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported these things to^c the people. Then all the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵Just then,^d Saul was coming from the field behind the cattle. Saul said, “What is the matter with the people, that they are weeping?” So they recounted to him the words of the men of Jabesh.

⁶Then the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became very angry.^{e 7}So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them into pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever is not going out after Saul and after Samuel, so will it be done to his oxen.” Then the fear of Yahweh fell on the people and they went out as one man. ⁸He mustered them at Bezek; the Israelites^f were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah were thirty thousand. ⁹They said to the messengers who had come, “Thus you will say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow deliverance for you will come when the sun is hot.’ ”^g When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh, they rejoiced. ¹⁰The men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.”^{h 11}And theⁱ next day Saul placed the people in three divisions. Then they came into the middle of the camp at the early morning watch^j and struck down the Ammonites^k until the heat of the day. It happened that the remainder were scattered so that no two among them remained together.^{l 12}Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is the one who asked, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Give the men to us that we may kill them.” ¹³But Saul said, “No one will be put to death on this day, because today^m Yahweh has provided deliverance in Israel.”

¹⁴Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal, and let us renew the kingship there.” ¹⁵So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly along with all the men of Israel.

Samuel’s Charge to Israel

12Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Look, I have listened to your voice regarding all that you have said to me, so I have set a king over you. ²And so then here is the king walking about before you. Now I am old and gray, but my sons (look at them!) are with you; and I have walked about before you from my youth until this day. ³Here I am! Testify against me before Yahweh and before his anointed one! Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe, that I may shut my eyes regarding^a him?—then I will restore it to you.” ⁴Then they said, “You have not exploited us or oppressed us, and you have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.” ⁵So he said to them, “Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed one is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” Then they said, “He is witness.” ⁶Then Samuel said to the people, “Yahweh is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your ancestors^b up from the land of Egypt. ⁷So then take your stand, so that I may judge you before Yahweh with regard to all the deeds of justice^c of Yahweh that he performed with both you and your ancestors.^d

⁸“When Jacob came to Egypt, your ancestors^e cried out to Yahweh, so he sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your ancestors^f out from Egypt and settled them in this place. ⁹But they forgot Yahweh their God, so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the hosts of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. ¹⁰So they cried out to Yahweh and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken Yahweh and have served the Baals^g and the Ashtoreths.^h But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies and we will serve you!’ ¹¹So Yahweh sent Jerub-Baal and Bedanⁱ and Jephthah and Samuel. Then he delivered you from the hand of your enemies all around, and you lived in security.

¹²“And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites,^j was coming against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king shall reign over us,’ although Yahweh your God is your king. ¹³So then look! Here is the king you have chosen, for whom you have asked! Look, Yahweh has placed a king over you! ¹⁴If you will fear Yahweh, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not be rebellious against what Yahweh says,^k and both you and the king who rules over you will follow after Yahweh your God, all will be well. ¹⁵But, if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you rebel against what Yahweh says,^l then the hand of Yahweh will be against you^m as it was against your ancestors.^{n 16}So then take your stand again and see this great thing that Yahweh is going to do before your eyes. ¹⁷Is the wheat harvest not today? I will call out to Yahweh so that he still sends thunder and rain, so that you will…