9:14 So they went up to the town. As they were heading for the middle of the town, Samuel was coming in their direction 1 to go up to the high place. 9:15 Now the day before Saul arrived, the Lord had told 2 Samuel: 9:16 “At this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. You must consecrate 3 him as a leader over my people Israel. He will save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked with favor on my people. Their cry has reached me!”
9:17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, 4 “Here is the man that I told you about! He will rule over my people.” 9:18 As Saul approached Samuel in the middle of the gate, he said, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.”
9:19 Samuel replied to Saul, “I am the seer! Go up in front of me to the high place! Today you will eat with me and in the morning I will send you away. I will tell you everything that you are thinking. 5 9:20 Don’t be concerned 6 about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found. Whom does all Israel desire? Is it not you, and all your father’s family?” 7
9:21 Saul replied, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of Israel’s tribes, and is not my family clan the smallest of all the tribes of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me in this way?”
9:22 Then Samuel brought 8 Saul and his servant into the room and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited. There were about thirty people present. 9:23 Samuel said to the cook, “Give me the portion of meat that I gave to you – the one I asked you to keep with you.”
9:24 So the cook picked up the leg and brought it and set it in front of Saul. Samuel 9 said, “What was kept is now set before you! Eat, for it has been kept for you for this meeting time, from the time I said, ‘I have invited the people.’” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
9:25 When they came down from the high place to the town, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof. 9:26 They got up at dawn and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get up, so I can send you on your way.” So Saul got up and the two of them – he and Samuel – went outside. 9:27 While they were going down to the edge of town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” So he did. 10 Samuel then said, 11 “You remain here awhile, so I can inform you of God’s message.”
1 tn Heb “to meet them.” This may indicate purpose on Samuel’s part. The next sentence indicates that the meeting was by design, not just an accident.
2 tn Heb “uncovered the ear of.”
3 tn Heb “anoint.”
4 tn Heb “responded.”
5 tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”
6 tn Heb “do not fix your heart.”
7 tn Heb “and all the house of your father.”
8 tn Heb “took and brought.”
9 tn Heb “he” (also in v. 25); the referent (Samuel) has been specified in both places in the translation for clarity.
10 tc This statement is absent in the LXX (with the exception of Origen), an Old Latin
11 tn The words “Samuel then said” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.