8 And it came to pass when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

² And the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah; they judged in Beer-sheba.

³ And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah,

⁵ and said to him, Behold, thou art become old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now appoint us a king to judge us, like all the nations.

⁶ And the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to Jehovah.

⁷ And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, in that they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.

⁹ And now hearken unto their voice; only, testify solemnly unto them, and declare unto them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

¹⁰ And Samuel spoke all the words of Jehovah to the people that asked of him a king.

¹¹ And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, on his chariot and among his horsemen, and they shall run before his chariots;

¹² and [he will take them] that he may appoint for himself captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and that they may plough his ground, and reap his harvest, and make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots.

¹³ And he will take your daughters for perfumers, and cooks, and bakers.

¹⁴ And your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, the best, will he take and give to his servants.

¹⁵ And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give to his chamberlains and to his servants.

¹⁶ And he will take your bondmen, and your bondwomen, and your comeliest young men, and your asses, and use them for his work.

¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your sheep. And ye shall be his servants.

¹⁸ And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye have chosen; and Jehovah will not answer you in that day.

¹⁹ And the people refused to hearken to the voice of Samuel; and they said, No, but there shall be a king over us,

²⁰ that we also may be like all the nations; and our king shall judge us, and go out before us, and conduct our wars.

²¹ And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of Jehovah.

²² And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, Go ye every man to his city.

9 And there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjaminite, a mighty man of wealth.

² And he had a son whose name was Saul, choice and comely; and there was not among the children of Israel a comelier person than he; from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

³ And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost; and Kish said to Saul his son, Take, I pray, one of the young men with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.

⁴ And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they found [them] not; and they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there; and they passed through the land of Benjamin, and they found [them] not.

⁵ They had come to the land of Zuph when Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come and let us return; lest my father give up the asses, and be anxious about us.

⁶ And he said to him, Behold now, a man of God is in this city, and the man is held in honour; all that he says comes surely to pass. Let us now go thither: perhaps he will shew us the way that we should go.

⁷ And Saul said to his servant, But if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and we have no present to give to the man of God: what have we?

⁸ And the servant answered Saul again and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver; that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.

⁹ (In former time in Israel, when a man went to ask counsel of God, he said, Come and let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a Prophet was in former time called a Seer.)

¹⁰ And Saul said to his servant, Well said: come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was.

¹¹ As they went up the ascent to the city, they met maidens going forth to draw water; and they said to them, Is the seer here?

¹² And they answered them and said, He is; behold, he is before thee: make haste now, for he came to-day to the city; for the people have a sacrifice to-day in the high place.

¹³ As soon as ye come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people eat not until he has come, because he blesses the sacrifice; afterwards they eat that are invited. And now go up; for this very day shall ye find him.

¹⁴ And they went up into the city. As they were coming into the midst of the city, behold, Samuel was coming out towards them, to go up to the high place.

¹⁵ Now Jehovah had apprised Samuel one day before Saul came, saying,

¹⁶ To-morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him prince over my people Israel; and he will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me.

¹⁷ And as Samuel saw Saul, Jehovah answered him, Behold the man of whom I spoke to thee! this man shall rule over my people.

¹⁸ And Saul drew near to Samuel in the midst of the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is.

¹⁹ And Samuel answered Saul and said, I am the seer: go up before me to the high place, and ye shall eat with me to-day; and to-morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thy heart.

²⁰ And as for the asses that thou didst lose three days ago, set not thy heart on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel [set]? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house?

²¹ And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjaminite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? and why dost thou speak such words to me?

²² And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the chamber, and gave them a place at the head of them that were invited; and they were about thirty persons.

²³ And Samuel said to the cook, Bring the portion that I gave thee, of which I said to thee, Set it by thee.

²⁴ And the cook took up the shoulder, and what was on it, and set [it] before Saul. And he said, Behold that which has been reserved! set it before thee, eat; for against the set time has it been kept for thee, since I said, I will invite the people. So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

²⁵ And they came down from the high place into the city, and he spoke with Saul upon the roof.

²⁶ And they arose early; and when it was about the dawning of the day, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, saying, Arise, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, into the street.

²⁷ As they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Tell the servant to pass on before us (and he passed on), but stand thou still now, that I may cause thee to hear the word of God.

10 Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because Jehovah has anointed thee prince over his inheritance?

² When thou goest from me to-day, thou shalt meet two men by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to thee, The asses are found which thou wentest to seek, and behold, thy father has dismissed the matter of the asses, and is anxious about you, saying, What shall I do for my son?

³ And thou shalt go on forward from thence, and shalt come to the oak of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God, to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three cakes of bread, and another carrying a flask of wine.

⁴ And they will ask after thy welfare, and give thee two loaves, which thou shalt receive of their hands.

⁵ After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where are the outposts of the Philistines; and it shall come to pass, when thou comest thither, into the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with lute and tambour and pipe and harp before them; and they themselves prophesying.

⁶ And the Spirit of Jehovah will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

⁷ And it shall be, when these signs shall come to thee, thou shalt do as thy hand shall find; for God is with thee.

⁸ And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to thee, to offer up burnt-offerings, [and] to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings: seven days shalt thou wait, until I come to thee and inform thee what thou shalt do.

⁹ And it was [so] that when he turned his back to go away from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day.

¹⁰ And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.

¹¹ And it came to pass, when all that knew him before saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

¹² And a man of that place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?

¹³ And when he had ended prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ And Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses; and when we saw that they were nowhere, we went to Samuel.

¹⁵ And Saul's uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said to you.

¹⁶ And Saul said to his uncle, He told us for certain that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he told him not.

¹⁷ And Samuel called the people together to Jehovah to Mizpah.

¹⁸ And he said to the children of Israel, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, *I* brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you;

¹⁹ but *ye* have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your troubles, and have said unto him, [Nay,] but a king shalt thou set over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Jehovah by your tribes, and by your thousands.

²⁰ And Samuel caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

²¹ And he caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, and the family of Matri was taken; and Saul the son of Kish was taken. And they sought him, but he was not to be found.

²² Therefore they inquired of Jehovah further, Will the man yet come hither? And Jehovah answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the baggage.

²³ And they ran and fetched him thence; and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.

²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom Jehovah has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted and said, May the king live.

²⁵ And Samuel told the people the right of the kingdom, and wrote it in the book, and laid it before Jehovah. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.

²⁶ And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and with him went the band, whose hearts God had touched.

²⁷ But the children of Belial said, How should this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no gifts. But he was as one deaf.