1 Samuel 10:17–27

Saul the King

¹⁷Then Samuel called the ^apeople together to Yahweh at Mizpah;

¹⁸and he said to the sons of Israel, “^aThus 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.’

¹⁹“But you ^ahave today rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have ¹said, ‘No, but set a king over us!’ So now, ^btake your stand before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans.”

²⁰Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.

²¹Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the Matrite family was taken. And Saul the son of Kish was taken; but they looked for him, and he could not be found.

²²Therefore ^athey inquired further of Yahweh, “Has the man come here yet?” So Yahweh said, “Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.”

²³So they ran and took him from there, and he stood among the people. And ^ahe was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.

²⁴And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^awhom Yahweh has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people shouted and said, “^1bLong live the king!”

²⁵Then Samuel spoke with the people about ^athe legal judgments of the kingdom and wrote them in the book and ^bplaced it before Yahweh. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house.

²⁶Saul also went ^ato his house at Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him.

²⁷But certain ^1avile men said, “How can this one save us?” And they despised him and ^bdid not bring him any present. But he kept silent.