1 Samuel 10

1 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;

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 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?

[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 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.

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

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

5 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.

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 schal skippe in to thee, and thou schalt prophecie with hem, and thou schalt be chaungid in to 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 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.

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

8 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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?

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 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?

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

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

14 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.

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

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

16 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.

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

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

18 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.

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 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.

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

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

21 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.

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

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

23 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.

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 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!

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 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;

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 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.

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 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.

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].