¹ Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?

² When thou art departed from me to day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?

³ Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine:

⁴ And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands.

⁵ After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy:

⁶ And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

⁷ And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.

⁸ And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do.

⁹ And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.

¹⁰ And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.

¹¹ And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

¹² And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?

¹³ And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ And Saul's uncle said unto him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses: and when we saw that they were no where, we came to Samuel.

¹⁵ And Saul's uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you.

¹⁶ And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not.

¹⁷ And Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh;

¹⁸ And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you:

¹⁹ And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands.

²⁰ And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

²¹ When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken: and when they sought him, he could not be found.

²² Therefore they inquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come thither. And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff.

²³ And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.

²⁴ And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.

²⁶ And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched.

²⁷ But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.

¹ Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was:

² Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king.

³ Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the LORD.

⁴ Of Heman: the sons of Heman; Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth:

⁵ All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

⁶ All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king's order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.

⁷ So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning, was two hundred fourscore and eight.

⁸ And they cast lots, ward against ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar.

⁹ Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph: the second to Gedaliah, who with his brethren and sons were twelve:

¹⁰ The third to Zaccur, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹¹ The fourth to Izri, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹² The fifth to Nethaniah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹³ The sixth to Bukkiah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹⁴ The seventh to Jesharelah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹⁵ The eighth to Jeshaiah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹⁶ The ninth to Mattaniah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹⁷ The tenth to Shimei, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹⁸ The eleventh to Azareel, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

¹⁹ The twelfth to Hashabiah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²⁰ The thirteenth to Shubael, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²¹ The fourteenth to Mattithiah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²² The fifteenth to Jeremoth, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²³ The sixteenth to Hananiah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²⁴ The seventeenth to Joshbekashah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²⁵ The eighteenth to Hanani, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²⁶ The nineteenth to Mallothi, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²⁷ The twentieth to Eliathah, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²⁸ The one and twentieth to Hothir, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

²⁹ The two and twentieth to Giddalti, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

³⁰ The three and twentieth to Mahazioth, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve:

³¹ The four and twentieth to Romamti-ezer, he, his sons, and his brethren, were twelve.