1 Samuel 10:17–27

Saul Publicly Chosen King

¹⁷Thereafter Samuel called the ^apeople together to the Lord at Mizpah;

¹⁸and he said to the sons of Israel, “^aThus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the ¹power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’

¹⁹“But you ^ahave today rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have ¹said, ‘No, but set a king over us!’ Now therefore, ^bpresent yourselves before the Lord 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 when they looked for him, he could not be found.

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

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

²⁴Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^awhom the Lord 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 told the people ^athe ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book and ^bplaced it before the Lord. 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 ^1aworthless men said, “How can this one deliver us?” And they despised him and ^bdid not bring him any present. But he kept silent.