1 Samuel 10

1 Then took Samuel a flask of oil, and poured out upon his head, and kissed him, —and said—Is it not, that Yahweh hath anointed thee over his inheritance, as leader?

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 thou departest, to-day, from me, then shalt thou find two men by the grave of Rachel, within the boundary of Benjamin, in Zelzah, —and they will say unto thee, The asses are found, which thou wentest to seek, and lo! thy father hath abandoned caring for the asses, and is concerned for you, saying, What shall I do for 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 shalt thou pass on quickly from thence onwards, and come as far as the oak of Tabor, and there shall find thee there, three men going up unto God, at Bethel, —one, carrying three kids, and, another, carrying three cakes of bread, and, another, carrying a skin 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 then will they ask thee, of thy welfare, —and give thee two cakes of bread, which thou shalt receive at their hand.

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

5 After that, shalt thou come unto the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines, —and it shall be, as thou comest in thither into the city, thou shalt light upon a band of prophets, coming down from the high place, and, before them, a harp, and a timbrel, and a flute, and a lyre, they having been moved to prophesy.

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 Then will come suddenly upon thee, the Spirit of Yahweh, and thou shalt be moved to prophesy with them, —and shalt be changed into another man.

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 it shall be, when these signs shall come unto thee, then act thou for thyself, as thou shalt find occasion, for, God, is with thee.

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

8 And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal, for lo! I am coming down unto thee, to offer up ascending-offerings, to sacrifice peace-offerings, —seven days, shalt thou tarry, until I come unto thee, then will I let thee know what thou shalt 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 And so it was, that, when he turned away to depart from Samuel, God gave him another 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, when they came thither to the hill, lo! a band of prophets coming to meet him, —then came suddenly upon him, the Spirit of God, and he was moved to prophesy in their midst.

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 And it came to pass, that, all who knew him aforetime, looked, and lo! with the prophets, he did prophesy. So the people said, one to another—What, now, hath befallen the son of Kish? Is, even Saul, 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 Then responded one of that place, and said, But who is, their father? For this cause, it became a proverb, Is, even Saul, 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 made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.

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

14 Then said Saul’s uncle unto him, and unto his young man—Whither have ye been? And he said, To seek the asses, and, when they were nowhere, to be seen, we came unto 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 And Saul’s uncle said, —Do tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said to you.

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

16 And Saul said unto his uncle, He, told, us that the asses were found, —but, as to the matter of the kingdom, he told him not what Samuel had said.

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 Then Samuel called out the people, unto Yahweh, at Mizpah,

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

18 and said unto the sons of Israel—Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel: I myself, brought up Israel, out of Egypt, —and rescued you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that distressed 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 Yet, ye, to-day, have rejected your God, who, himself, hath been giving you salvation from all your calamities and your distresses, and ye have said to him: A king, shalt thou set over us, —Now, therefore, present yourselves before Yahweh, 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 And, when Samuel had brought near all the tribes of Israel, then was taken the tribe of Benjamin.

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

21 And, when he had brought near the tribe of Benjamin, by their families, then was taken the family of Matri, —and, when he had brought near the family of Matri, man by man, then was taken Saul the son of Kish; so they sought him, but he was not to 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 Then asked they again of Yahweh, Hath there yet to come in hither a man? And Yahweh said, Lo! he, hath hid himself among the stores.

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

23 So they ran, and fetched him thence, and, when he presented himself in the midst of the people, then was he [seen to be] taller than any of the people, from his shoulders and upwards.

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 And Samuel said unto all the people—Have ye seen him whom Yahweh hath chosen, that there is none like him, among all the people? And 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 declared unto the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a scroll, and laid it up before Yahweh. And Samuel sent away all the people, every man to his own house.

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 Yea, even Saul, went to his own house, at Gibeah, —and the valiant men whose heart God had moved went with him.

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, abandoned men, said—How can this one save us? So they treated him with contempt, and brought him no present, —but he was as one that was deaf.

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].