1 Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, Isn't it you whom the Lord has anointed to be prince over his inheritance?
2 When you have departed from me today, then you shall find two men by Rachel's tomb, at the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will tell you, The donkeys which you went to seek have been found; and, behold, your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys, and is anxious for you, saying, What should I do about my son?
3 Then you shall go on forward from there, and you shall come to the oak of Tabor; and three men going up to God at Bethel shall meet you there, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine:
4 and they will greet you, and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive of their hand.
5 After that you shall come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and when you have come into the city, you shall meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tambourine, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying:
6 and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into a different man.
7 May it be, when these signs are come to you, that you do as the occasion will serve you; for God is with you.
8 You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down to you, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: you shall wait seven days, until I come to you and show you what you must do.
9 It was so, that when he had turned around to leave Samuel, God gave him a different heart: and all those signs happened that day.
10 When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, and he prophesied among them.
11 When all who knew him before saw that he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one to another, What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?
12 One of them from that place answered, Who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?
13 When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.
14 Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, Where did you go? He said, To look for the donkeys; and when we realized that we weren't going to find them, we came to Samuel.
15 Saul's uncle said, Tell me, Please, what Samuel said to you.
16 Saul said to his uncle, He told us plainly that the donkeys were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel spoke, he didn't tell him.
17 Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah;
18 and he said to the people of Israel, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you:
19 but today you have rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, No, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands.
20 So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families; and the family of the Matrites was taken; and Saul the son of Kish was taken: but when they searched for him, he could not be found.
22 Therefore they asked of the Lord further, Didn't this man come here? the Lord answered, Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.
23 They ran and brought him there; and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
24 Samuel said to all the people, "You see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people?" All the people shouted, and said, Long live the king.
25 Then Samuel told the people the way a kingdom is governed, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord. Samuel sent all the people away, everyone to his own house.
26 Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and the multitude, whose hearts God had touched, went with him.
27 But certain worthless fellows said, How can this man save us? They despised him, and didn't bring him a present. But he held his peace.