Saul among the Prophets

10 Then ^(A)Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on ^[a]Saul’s head, ^(B)kissed him, and said, “Has ^(C)the Lord not anointed you as ruler over ^(D)His inheritance? ² When you leave me today, then you will find two men close to ^(E)Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘^(F)The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. Now behold, your father has stopped talking about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What am I to do about my son?”’ ³ Then you will go on farther from there, and you will come as far as the ^[b](G)oak of Tabor, and there three men going up ^(H)to God at Bethel will meet you: one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine. ⁴ And they will ^[c]greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand. ⁵ Afterward you will come to ^[d](I)the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet ^(J)a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre in front of them, and ^(K)they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then ^(L)the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and ^(M)you will prophesy with them and be changed into a different man. ⁷ And it shall be when these signs come to you, ^(N)do for yourself what ^[e]the occasion requires, because ^(O)God is with you. ⁸ And ^(P)you shall go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will be coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and ^(Q)sacrifice peace offerings. ^(R)You shall wait seven days until I come to you and inform you of what you should do.”

⁹ Then it happened, when he turned his back to leave Samuel, that God ^(S)changed ^[f]his heart; and all those signs came about on that day. ^10 (T)When they came there to ^[g]the hill, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, so that he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And it came about, when all who previously knew him saw that he was indeed prophesying with the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? ^(U)Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² And a man from there responded and said, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a saying: “^(V)Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ Now ^(W)Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “^(X)To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.” ¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” ¹⁶ So Saul said to his uncle, “^(Y)He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned.

Saul Publicly Chosen King

¹⁷ Now Samuel called the ^(Z)people together to the Lord at Mizpah; ¹⁸ and he said to the sons of Israel, “^(AA)This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the ^[h]power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ ¹⁹ But today you ^(AB)have rejected your God, who saves you from all your catastrophes and your distresses; yet you have ^[i]said, ‘No, but put a king over us!’ Now then, ^(AC)present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your ^[j]groups of thousands.”

²⁰ So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel forward; and the tribe of Benjamin was selected by lot. ²¹ Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin forward by its families, and the Matrite family was selected by lot. And Saul the son of Kish was selected by lot; but when they looked for him, he could not be found. ²² Therefore ^(AD)they inquired further of the Lord: “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, “Behold, he is hiding himself among the baggage.” ²³ So they ran and took him from there, and when he stood among the people, ^(AE)he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. ²⁴ Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him ^(AF)whom the Lord has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people.” So all the people shouted and said, “^[k](AG)Long live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people ^(AH)the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book, and ^(AI)placed it before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house. ²⁶ Saul also went ^(AJ)to his house in Gibeah; and the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him. ²⁷ But certain ^[l](AK)useless men said, “How can this one save us?” And they despised him and ^(AL)did not bring him a gift. But ^[m]he kept silent about it.

Deliverance from Bondage

8 Therefore there is now no ^(A)condemnation at all for those who are ^(B)in ^(C)Christ Jesus. ² For ^(D)the law of the Spirit of life ^[a]in ^(E)Christ Jesus ^(F)has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For ^(G)what the Law could not do, ^[b](H)weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in ^(I)the likeness of ^[c]sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the ^(J)requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who ^(K)do not walk ^[d]according to the flesh but ^[e]according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on ^(L)the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, ^(M)the things of the Spirit. ^6 (N)For the mind ^[f]set on the flesh is ^(O)death, but the mind ^[g]set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind ^[h]set on the flesh is ^(P)hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are ^(Q)in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ However, you are not ^(R)in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God ^(S)dwells in you. But ^(T)if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ^10 (U)If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is ^[i]alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who ^(V)raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ^(W)He who raised ^(X)Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^[j]through His Spirit who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for ^(Y)if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are ^(Z)putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are ^(AA)being led by the Spirit of God, these are ^(AB)sons and daughters of God. ¹⁵ For you ^(AC)have not received a spirit of slavery ^[k]leading to fear again, but you ^(AD)have received ^[l]a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “^(AE)Abba! ^[m]Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself ^(AF)testifies with our spirit that we are ^(AG)children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, ^(AH)heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^(AI)if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ^(AJ)are not worthy to be compared with the ^(AK)glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the ^(AL)eagerly awaiting creation waits for ^(AM)the revealing of the ^(AN)sons and daughters of God. ²⁰ For the creation ^(AO)was subjected to ^(AP)futility, not willingly, but ^(AQ)because of Him who subjected it, ^[n]in hope ²¹ that ^(AR)the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation ^(AS)groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ^23 (AT)And not only that, but also we ourselves, having ^(AU)the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves ^(AV)groan within ourselves, ^(AW)waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, ^(AX)the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For ^(AY)in hope we have been saved, but ^(AZ)hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But ^(BA)if we hope for what we do not see, through perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Our Victory in Christ

²⁶ Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for ^(BB)we do not know what to pray for as we should, but ^(BC)the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with ^[o]groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and ^(BD)He who searches the hearts knows what ^(BE)the mind of the Spirit is, because He ^(BF)intercedes for the ^[p]saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that ^[q]God ^[r]causes ^(BG)all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are ^(BH)called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He ^(BI)foreknew, He also ^(BJ)predestined to become ^(BK)conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the ^(BL)firstborn among many brothers and sisters; ³⁰ and these whom He ^(BM)predestined, He also ^(BN)called; and these whom He called, He also ^(BO)justified; and these whom He justified, He also ^(BP)glorified.

^31 (BQ)What then shall we say to these things? ^(BR)If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who ^(BS)did not spare His own Son, but ^(BT)delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring charges against ^(BU)God’s elect? ^(BV)God is the one who justifies; ³⁴ who is the one who ^(BW)condemns? Christ Jesus is He who ^(BX)died, but rather, was ^[s](BY)raised, who is ^(BZ)at the right hand of God, who also ^(CA)intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from ^(CB)the love of ^[t]Christ? Will ^(CC)tribulation, or trouble, or ^(CD)persecution, or ^(CE)famine, or ^(CF)nakedness, or ^(CG)danger, or sword? ³⁶ Just as it is written:

³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly ^(CI)conquer through ^(CJ)Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither ^(CK)death, nor life, nor ^(CL)angels, nor principalities, nor ^(CM)things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from ^(CN)the love of God that is ^(CO)in Christ Jesus our Lord.