1 Samuel 9:1-9

Samuel Meets with Saul

9:1 There was a Benjaminite man named Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He was a prominent person. 9:2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.

9:3 The donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off, ¹  so Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go ²  look for the donkeys.” ³  9:4 So Saul ⁴  crossed through the hill country of Ephraim, passing through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. So they crossed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he crossed through the land of Benjamin, and still they did not find them.

9:5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come on, let’s head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!” 9:6 But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. ⁵  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ⁶  9:7 So Saul said to his servant, “All right, ⁷  we can go. But what can we bring the man, since the food in our bags is used up? We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?” 9:8 The servant went on to answer Saul, “Look, I happen to have in my hand a quarter shekel ⁸  of silver. I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us where we should go.” ⁹  9:9 (Now it used to be in Israel that whenever someone went to inquire of God he would say, “Come on, let’s go to the seer.” For today’s prophet used to be called a seer.)

[9:3]  ¹ tn Heb “became lost.”

[9:3]  ² tn Heb “and arise, go.”

[9:3]  ³ tc The Syriac Peshitta includes the following words: “So Saul arose and went out. He took with him one of the boys and went out to look for his father’s donkeys.”

[9:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:6]  ⁵ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

[9:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “our way on which we have gone.”

[9:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “look.”

[9:8]  ⁸ sn A quarter shekel of silver would weigh about a tenth of an ounce (about 3 grams).

[9:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “our way.”