10:1And Samuel took a little flask of oil, and poured it over his head: and he kissed him, and said: "Look, the Lord has anointed you over his inheritance as prince, and you will free his people from the hands of his enemies who are round about him. 10:1And this will be a sign for you, that God has anointed you as prince. 10:2When you have gone away from me today, you will find two men beside the tomb of Rachel on the borders of Benjamin, at midday: and they will say to you: The she-asses which you had gone to search for have been found: and your father, the she-asses having been left off, is anxious for you, and says: What shall I do about my son?
10:3And when you have gone away from there, and have passed on beyond, and have come to the oak of Tabor, three men will find you there going up to God at Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another three loaves of bread, and another carrying a flask of wine. 10:4And when they have greeted you, they will give you two loaves, and you will receive them from their hand. 10:5After these things you will come to the hill of God, where there is a garrison of the Philistines: and when you have entered the city there, you will meet a flock of prophets coming down from the high place, and before them a psaltery, and a drum, and a pipe, and a lyre, and they themselves prophesying.
10:6And the spirit of the Lord will leap upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into another man. 10:7So when all these signs have come about for you, do whatever your hand finds, because the Lord is with you. 10:8And you will go down before me to Gilgal (for I will come down to you), so that you may offer an offering, and sacrifice peace victims: seven days you shall wait, until I come to you, and show you what you are to do." 10:9And so when he had turned his shoulder to go away from Samuel, God gave him in exchange another heart, and all these signs came on that day.
10:10And they came to the aforesaid hill, and look, a band of prophets met him: and the spirit of the Lord leapt upon him, and he prophesied in the midst of them. 10:11And all who had known him yesterday and the day before, seeing that he was with the prophets, and was prophesying, said to one another: "What thing has happened to the son of Kish? 10:11Is Saul too among the prophets?" 10:12And one answered another, saying: "And who is their father?" 10:12Therefore it turned into a proverb: "Is Saul too among the prophets?" 10:13And he ceased to prophesy, and came to the high place. 10:14And Saul's uncle said to him, and to his servant: "Where did you go off to?"
10:14They answered: "To look for the she-asses: and when we had not found them, we came to Samuel." 10:15And his uncle said to him: "Tell me what Samuel said to you." 10:16And Saul said to his uncle: "He told us that the she-asses had been found." 10:16But about the word of the kingdom, which Samuel had spoken to him, he did not tell him. 10:17And Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah: and he said to the sons of Israel: "These things says the Lord God of Israel: I led Israel out of Egypt, and rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all the kings who were afflicting you.
10:19But you today have cast away your God, who alone has saved you from all your evils and tribulations: and you have said: By no means: but appoint a king over us. 10:19Now therefore stand before the Lord by your tribes, and by families." 10:20And Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel, and the lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin. 10:21And he brought near the tribe of Benjamin and its kindreds, and the lot fell on the kindred of Matri: and it came as far as Saul the son of Kish. 10:21So they looked for him, and he was not found. 10:22And after these things they consulted the Lord whether he would come there.
10:22And the Lord answered: "Look, he is hidden at home." 10:23And so they ran and took him from there: and he stood in the middle of the people, and he was taller than all the people from the shoulder and upwards. 10:24And Samuel said to all the people: "Surely you see whom the Lord has chosen, since there is none like him among all the people." 10:24And all the people shouted, and said: "Long live the king." 10:25And Samuel spoke to the people the law of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord: and Samuel sent away all the people, each into his house.
10:26And Saul too went off into his house in Gibeah: and there went off with him a part of the army, whose hearts God had touched. 10:27But the sons of Belial said: "Will this man be able to save us?" 10:27And they despised him, and did not bring him gifts: but he pretended not to hear.