1 Samuel 10

1 Then Samuel took the bottle of oil, and put the oil on his head and gave him a kiss and said, Is not the Lord with the holy oil making you ruler over Israel, his people? and you will have authority over the people of the Lord, and you will make them safe from the hands of their attackers round about them, and this will be the sign for you:

Forsothe Samuel took `a vessel of oyle, and schedde out on the heed of Saul, and kisside hym, and seide, Lo! the Lord hath anoyntid thee in to prince on hys eritage; and thou schalt delyuere his puple fro the hond of his enemyes, that ben `in his cumpas. And this a tokene to thee, that the Lord hath anoyntid thee in to prince;

2 When you have gone away from me today, you will see two men by the resting-place of Rachel's body, in the land of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, The asses which you went in search of have come back, and now your father, caring no longer for the asses, is troubled about you, saying, What am I to do about my son?

whanne thou schalt go fro me to day, thou schalt fynde twei men bisidis `the sepulcre of Rachel, in `the endis of Beniamyn, in myddai, clensynge grete dichis; and thei schulen seie to thee, The femel assis ben foundun, whiche thou yedist to seke; and while the assis ben lefte, thi fadir is bisy for you, and seith, What schal Y do of my sone?

3 Then you are to go on from there, and when you come to the oak-tree of Tabor, you will see three men going up to God to Beth-el, one having with him three young goats and another three cakes of bread and another a skin full of wine:

And whanne thou hast go fro thennus, and hast passid ferthere, and hast come to the ook of Tabor, thre men, stiynge to God in to Bethel, schulen fynde thee there, o man berynge thre kydis, and another man berynge thre kakis of breed, and an other man berynge a galoun of wyn.

4 They will say, Peace be with you, and will give you two cakes of bread, which you are to take from them.

And whanne thei han gret thee, thei schulen yyue to thee twei loues, and thou schalt take of `the hond of hem.

5 After that you will come to Gibeah, the hill of God, where an armed force of the Philistines is stationed: and when you come to the town, you will see a band of prophets coming down from the high place with instruments of music before them; and they will be acting like prophets:

After these thingis thou schalt come in to the `hil of the Lord, where is the stondyng, that is, forselet, of Filisteis; and whanne thou schalt entre in to the citee, there thou schalt haue metynge thee the flok of prophetis comynge doun fro the hiy place, and a sautree, and tympane, and pipe, and harpe bifor hem, and hem prophesiynge.

6 And the spirit of the Lord will come on you with power, and you will be acting like a prophet with them, and will be changed into another man.

And the Spirit of the Lord schal skippe in to thee, and thou schalt prophecie with hem, and thou schalt be chaungid in to another man.

7 And when these signs come to you, see that you take the chance which is offered you; for God is with you.

Therfor whanne alle thesse signes bifallen to thee, do thou, what euer thingis thin hond fyndith, `that is, dispose thee to regne comelili and myytily, for the Lord is with thee.

8 Then you are to go down before me to Gilgal, where I will come to you, for the offering of burned offerings and peace-offerings: go on waiting there for seven days till I come to you and make clear to you what you have to do.

And thou schalt go doun bifor me in to Galgala; for Y schal come doun to thee, that thou offre an offryng, and offre pesible sacrifices; bi seuene daies thou schalt abide, til I come to thee, and shewe to thee what thou schal do.

9 And it came about, that when he went away from Samuel, God gave him a changed heart: and all those signs took place that day.

Therfor whanne Saul hadde turnede awei his schuldre to go fro Samuel, God chaungide another herte to Saul, and alle these signes camen in that dai.

10 And when they came to Gibeah, a band of prophets came face to face with him; and the spirit of God came on him with power and he took his place among them as a prophet.

And thei camen to the forseid hil, and lo! a cumpeny of prophetis metynge hym; and the Spirit of the Lord `scippide on hym, and he propheciede in the myddis of hem.

11 Now when Saul's old friends saw him among the band of prophets, the people said to one another, What has come to Saul, the son of Kish? Is even Saul among the prophets?

Sotheli alle men, that knewen hym yisterdai and the thrid dai ago, sien that he was with the prophetis, and that he prophesiede, and thei seiden togidere, What thing bifelde to the sone of Cys? Whether also Saul is among prophetis?

12 And one of the people of that place said in answer, And who is their father? So it became a common saying, Is even Saul among the prophets?

And o man answeride to another man, and seide, And who is `his fadir? Therfor it was turned in to a prouerbe, Whether also Saul is among prophetis?

13 Then going away from the prophets, he came to the house.

Forsothe Saul ceside to prophesie, and he cam to an hiy place.

14 And Saul's father's brother said to him and his servant, Where have you been? And he said, Searching for the asses: and when we saw no sign of them, we came to Samuel.

And the brothir of `the fadir of Saul seide to hym, and to his child, Whidur yeden ye? And thei answeriden, To seke the femal assis; and whanne we founden `not thoo, we camen to Samuel.

15 Then he said, And what did Samuel say to you?

And the brother of his fadir seide to hym, Schewe thou to me what Samuel seide to thee.

16 And Saul, answering him, said, He gave us word that the asses had come back. But he said nothing to him of Samuel's words about the kingdom.

And Saul seide to `the brother of hys fadir, He schewide to vs, that the femal assis weren foundun. Sotheli Saul schewide not to hym of the word of rewme, `which word Samuel spak to hym.

17 Then Samuel sent for the people to come together before the Lord at Mizpah;

And Samuel clepide togidere the puple to the Lord in Masphat;

18 And he said to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, I took Israel out of Egypt, and made you free from the hands of the Egyptians and from all the kingdoms which kept you down:

and he seide to the sones of Israel, The Lord God of Israel seith these thingis, Y ledde Israel out of the lond of Egipt, and Y delyuerede you fro the hond of Egipcians, and fro the hond of alle kyngis that turmentiden you.

19 But today you are turned away from your God, who himself has been your saviour from all your troubles and sorrows; and you have said to him, Put a king over us. So now, take your places before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.

Forsothe to day ye han caste awei youre Lord God, which aloone sauyde you fro alle youre yuelis and tribulaciouns; and ye seiden, Nay, but ordeyne thou a kyng on vs. Now therfor stonde ye bifor the Lord bi youre lynagis, and bi meynees.

20 So Samuel made all the tribes of Israel come near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

And Samuel settide to gidere alle the lynages of Israel, and lot felde on the lynage of Beniamyn.

21 Then he made the tribe of Benjamin come near by families, and the family of the Matrites was taken: and from them, Saul, the son of Kish, was taken: but when they went in search of him he was nowhere to be seen.

And he settide togidere the lynage of Beniamyn, and the meynees therof; and lot felde on the meynees of Mathri, and it cam `til to Saul, the son of Cys. Therfor thei souyten hym, and he was not foundun there.

22 So they put another question to the Lord, Is the man present here? And the answer of the Lord was, He is keeping himself from view among the goods.

And aftir these thingis thei counseliden the Lord, whether Saul schulde come thidur. And the Lord answeride, Lo! he is hid at hoom.

23 So they went quickly and made him come out; and when he took his place among the people, he was taller by a head than any of the people.

Therfor thei runnen, and token hym fro thennus; and he stood in the myddil of the puple, and was hiyere than al the puple fro the schulder and `aboue.

24 And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see the man of the Lord's selection, how there is no other like him among all the people? And all the people with loud cries said, Long life to the king!

And Samuel seide to al the puple, Certis ye seen whom the Lord hath chose; for noon in al the puple is lijk hym. And al the puple cryede, and seide, Lyue the kyng!

25 Then Samuel gave the people the laws of the kingdom, writing them in a book which he put in a safe place before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.

Forsothe Samuel spak to the puple the lawe of rewme, and wroot in a book, and puttide vp bifor the Lord. And Samuel dilyuerede al the puple, ech man in to his hows;

26 And Saul went to Gibeah, to his house; and with him went the men of war whose hearts had been touched by God.

but also Saul yede in to his hous in to Gabaath; and the part of the oost yede with hym, whose hertis God hadde touchid.

27 But certain good-for-nothing persons said, How is this man to be our saviour? And having no respect for him, they gave him no offering.

Forsothe the sones of Belyal seiden, Whether this man may saue vs? And thei dispisiden hym, and brouyten not yiftis, `that is, preisyngis, to him; forsothe he `dissymelide hym to here.