1 Samuel 10

1 Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, "Has not the LORD anointed you to be ruler over his people Israel? And you shall rule over the people of the LORD, and you shall save them out of the hand of their enemies all around. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be ruler over his inheritance.

Then Samuel took a small jar of olive oil and poured [some of] it on Saul’s head. Then he kissed Saul [on the cheek], and told him, “I am doing this because Yahweh has chosen you to be the leader of his Israeli people.

2 When you have departed from me today, then you shall find two men by Rachel's tomb, in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will tell you, 'The donkeys which you went to seek have been found; and look, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys, and is anxious for you, saying, "What shall I do about my son?"'

[And this will prove it to you]: When you leave me today, when you arrive near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah, in the area where the descendants of Benjamin live, you will meet two men. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys have been found, but now your father is worrying about you, and he is asking people, “Have you seen my son?’”

3 Then you will go on further from there and you will come to the oak of Tabor, and three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you. One will be carrying three young goats, and another carrying three containers of bread, and another carrying a container of wine.

When you arrive at the [large] oak tree at Tabor [town], you will see three men coming toward you. They will be on their way to [worship] God at Bethel [town]. One of them will be leading three young goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a container of wine.

4 And they will greet you and give you two wave offerings of bread, which you shall accept from their hand.

They will greet you, and they will offer you two of the loaves of bread. Accept them.

5 After that you shall come to Gibeath Elohim, where the Philistine garrison is. And it shall happen, when you have come there to the city, that you shall meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with harps, and tambourines, and flutes, and lyres before them, and they will be prophesying.

When you arrive at the hill [where people worship] God near Gibeah [town], where there is the camp where the Philistine soldiers stay, you will meet a group of prophets who will be coming down from the altar on top of the hill. There will be people in front of them who will be playing [various musical instruments]: a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre. And all of them will be speaking messages that come directly from God.

6 And the Spirit of the LORD will come mightily on you, and you shall prophesy with them, and shall be transformed into a different person.

At that time the Spirit of Yahweh will come upon you, and you also will speak messages that come directly from God. (You will be changed/The Spirit of Yahweh will change you), so that you will become like a different person.

7 And let it be, when these signs have come to you, that you do as the occasion demands, for God is with you.

After those things occur, do whatever you think is right to do, and God will (be with/help) you.

8 You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and look, 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 shall do."

Then go ahead of me, down to Gilgal [city], and wait for me there, for seven days. Then I will join you there, to burn sacrifices and offer other sacrifices to enable you to maintain fellowship with God. When I arrive there, I will tell you what [other] things you should do.”

9 When he had turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart, and all these signs came to pass that day.

As Saul started to leave there, God changed Saul’s inner being. And all the things that Samuel had predicted happened on that day.

10 And he went from there to Gibeah, and look, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them.

When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, they saw some prophets who were [speaking messages that came directly from God. As the prophets were] approaching Saul and his servant, God’s Spirit came upon Saul powerfully, and he also began to speak messages from God.

11 It happened, when all who knew him before saw that, look, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one to another, "What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"

When people who had known Saul previously heard him speaking messages from God as the prophets were doing, they said to each other, “What has happened to this son of Kish? Is he now really one of the (prophets/men who speak messages from God)?”

12 One of the same place answered, "Who is their father?" Therefore it became a proverb, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

One of the men who lived there replied, “[Saul cannot be a prophet, because] all prophets receive their power to speak messages from God, not from their parents.” And that is why, [when people hear about a report of someone prophesying, they think about what happened to Saul and] say, “[We are surprised about that person becoming a prophet, like] we were surprised to hear that Saul had really become one of the prophets.”

13 And when he had finished prophesying, and went home,

When Saul finished speaking the messages that God gave him, he went to the place where the people offered sacrifices.

14 then his uncle said to him and to his servant, "Where did you go?" And he said, "To seek the donkeys. When we saw that they were not found, we went to Samuel."

Later, Saul’s uncle [saw him there, and] asked him, “Where did you go?” Saul replied, “We went to look for the donkeys. When we could not find them, we came here to ask Samuel [if he could tell us where they were].”

15 Saul's uncle said, "Please tell me what Samuel said to you."

Saul’s uncle replied, “What did Samuel tell you?”

16 Saul said to his uncle, "He told us plainly that the donkeys were found." But concerning the matter of the kingdom he did not tell him.

Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about him becoming the king [of Israel].

17 Samuel called the people together to the LORD to Mizpah;

[Later] Samuel summoned the people of Israel to gather at Mizpah to [hear a message from] Yahweh.

18 and he said to the children 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:'

After they arrived, he said to them, “This is what Yahweh, the God we Israeli people [worship], says: I brought you Israeli people out of Egypt. I rescued your [ancestors] from the power of the rulers of Egypt and from all the other kings who oppressed them.

19 but you have this day rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said, 'No. Set a king over us.' Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands."

I am the one who saves you from all your troubles and difficulties. But today you have rejected me, your God, and you have said, ‘We don’t care! Give us a king!’ So [I will do what you want]. Now have [representatives of] your tribes and [of] your clans stand here in the presence of Yahweh.’”

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

When those representatives came near to Samuel, [God indicated that] he had chosen someone from the tribe descended from Benjamin.

21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families, and the family of the Matrites was taken. And he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man, and Saul the son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he could not be found.

Then Samuel told representatives of the tribe of Benjamin to come forward, and God indicated that [from that tribe] he had chosen someone from the family of Matri, and then God indicated that [from the family of Matri] he had chosen Saul, the son of Kish. But when they looked for Saul, they could not find him.

22 Therefore they asked of the LORD further, "Is there a man yet to come here?" The LORD answered, "Look, he has hidden himself among the baggage."

So they asked Yahweh, “Where is Saul?” Yahweh replied, “He is hiding among the army equipment.”

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

So they quickly went there [and found him, ] and brought him [in front of all the people]. They could see that [truly] he was a head taller than anyone else.

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, "Let the king live."

Then Samuel said to all the people there, “This is the man whom Yahweh has chosen to be your king. Among all us Israeli people, there is no one like him!” Then all the people shouted, “We hope that this king will live a long time!”

25 Then Samuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it on a scroll, and laid it up before the LORD. Samuel sent all the people away, every man went to his place

Then Samuel told the people what things the king would force them to do, and all the things the king was required to do. He wrote all those things on a scroll, and then he put it in a sacred place in the temple. Then Samuel sent all the people home.

26 Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and there went with him the valient men, whose hearts the LORD had touched.

When Saul returned to his home in Gibeah [town], a group of men decided to continually accompany Saul. They did that because God (motivated them/put it in their minds) to do that.

27 But certain worthless fellows said, "How shall this man save us?" So they despised him, and brought him no present. Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was severely oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He put out the right eye of all of them, and he would not allow anyone to rescue Israel. Not one was left of the children of Israel beyond the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, did not put out, except for seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and went to Jabesh Gilead.

But some worthless men said, “(How can this man save us [from our enemies]?/This man will not be able to save us [from our enemies].)” [RHQ] They despised him, and refused to give him any gifts [to show that they would be loyal to him]. But Saul did not say anything [to rebuke them].