1 Samuel 9:15-27

9:15 Now the day before Saul arrived, the Lord had told ¹  Samuel: 9:16 “At this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. You must consecrate ²  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, ³  “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. ⁴  9:20 Don’t be concerned ⁵  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?” ⁶ 

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 ⁷  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 ⁸  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. ⁹  Samuel then said, ¹⁰  “You remain here awhile, so I can inform you of God’s message.”

¹ tn Heb “uncovered the ear of.”

² tn Heb “anoint.”

³ tn Heb “responded.”

⁴ tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”

⁵ tn Heb “do not fix your heart.”

⁶ tn Heb “and all the house of your father.”

⁷ tn Heb “took and brought.”

⁸ tn Heb “he” (also in v. 25); the referent (Samuel) has been specified in both places in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tc This statement is absent in the LXX (with the exception of Origen), an Old Latin ms, and the Syriac Peshitta.

¹⁰ tn The words “Samuel then said” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.