1Then Samuel took a small jar of oil, and poured it on Saul's head, and kissed him, and said, "Is it not because the LORD has anointed you to be captain over his inheritance?"
2"When you leave me today, you will find two men by Rachel's tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, 'The donkeys you went to look for have been found. Now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys, and is troubled about you. He says, What shall I do for my son?'"
3"Then you will go on from there, and come to the plain of Tabor. Three men will meet you there, going up to God at Bethel. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine."
4"They will greet you, and give you two loaves of bread, and you will take them from their hands."
5"After that you will come to the hill of God, where the soldiers of the Philistines are stationed. When you come to the city there, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place. In front of them will be a harp, a tambourine, a flute and a lyre, and they will be prophesying."
6"And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be turned into another man."
7"When these signs have come to you, do whatever the moment calls for, for God is with you."
8"You are to go down ahead of me to Gilgal. Look, I will come down to you, to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You must wait seven days, until I come to you and show you what you are to do."
9So when Saul turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all those signs happened that day.
10When they came to the hill, look, a group of prophets met him. The Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
11When all who had known him before saw him prophesying among the prophets, the people said to one another, "What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"
12And a man of that place answered, "But who is their father?" So it became a saying, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
13When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.
14Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, "Where did you go?" And he said, "To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel."
16Saul said to his uncle, "He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found." But he did not tell him what Samuel had said about the kingdom.
17Then Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpeh,
18and said to the children of Israel, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: I brought Israel up out of Egypt. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you."
19"But today you have rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your troubles and your distresses. You have said to him, 'No, set a king over us.' So now present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands."
21Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families, and the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he could not be found.
22So they asked the LORD again, "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD answered, "Look, he has hidden himself among the baggage."
23They ran and brought him from there. When he stood among the people, he was taller than any of them from his shoulders upward.
24And Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see the man the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people." And all the people shouted and said, "God save the king."
25Then Samuel told the people the rules of the kingdom, and wrote them in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own house.
27But the sons of Belial said, "How can this man save us?" And they despised him, and brought him no gifts. But he kept quiet.