1   And Samuel tooke ^note a litle vessel of ^note oyle, and powred vpon his head, and kissed him, and sayd: Behold, our Lord hath annointed thee vpon his inheritance to be prince, and thou shalt deliuer his people out of the handes of their enemies, that are round about them. And this shal be a signe vnto thee, that God hath annointed thee to be prince.

2   When thou shalt be departed from me this day, thou shalt finde two men beside the sepulchre of Rachel in the borders of Beniamin, in the South, and they shal say to thee: The asses are found, which thou dist goe to seeke: and thy father letting goe the asses, is careful for you, and sayeth: What shal I doe concerning my sonne?

3   And when thou shalt depart thence, and passe farder, and shalt come to the oke Thabor, three men going vp to God into Bethel shal finde thee there, one carying three kiddes, and an other three manchettes of bread, and an other carying a flagon of wine.

4   And when they haue saluted thee, they wil geue thee two loaues, and thou shalt take them of their hand.

5   After these thinges thou shalt come into the hil of God, where the garrison of the Philisthiimes is: and when thou shalt be entered there into the citie, thou shalt meete there a flocke of prophetes coming downe from the excelse, and before them psalterie and tymbrel, and shalme, and harpe, and themselues prophecying.

6   And the Spirit of our Lord shal sease vpon thee, and thou shalt prophecie with them, and shalt be changed into an other man.

7   Thefore when al these signes shal chance to thee, doe whatsoeuer thy hand shal finde, because our Lord is with thee.

8   And thou shalt goe downe before me into Galgala (for I wil come downe to thee) that thou

Samuel Saul. mayest offer oblation, and immolate pacifique victimes: ^note seuen daies shalt thou expect, til I come to thee, and I wil shew thee what thou must doe.

9   Therfore when he had turned away his shoulder to depart from Samuel, God ^note changed vnto him another hart, and al these thinges came in that day.

10   And they came to the foresaid hil, and behold a troupe of prophetes meeting him: & the ^note Spirit of our Lord seased vpon him, and he prophecied in the middes of them.

11   And al that had knowen him yesterday and the day before, seing that he was with the prophetes, & did prophecie, said to ech other: What thing hath happened to the sonne of Cis? what is Saul also among the prophetes?

12   And one answered an other, saying: And who is ^note their father? therefore it was turned into a prouerbe: What is Saul also among the prophetes?

13   And he ceased to prophecie, and came to the excelse.

14   And Sauls vncle sayd to him, and to his seruant: Whitherwent you? who answered: To seeke the asses: which when we had not found, we came to Samuel.

15   And his vncle sayd to him: Tel me what Samuel sayd to thee.

16   And Saul sayd to his vncle: He told vs that the asses were found. But concerning the word of the kingdom which Samuel had spoken to him, he told him not.

17   And Samuel called together the people to our Lord in Maspha:

18   And sayd to the children of Israel: Thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: I brought Israel out of Ægypt, and deliuerd you from the hand of the Ægyptians, and from the hand of al the kinges which afflicted you.

19   But you this day haue reiected your God, who only hath saued you out of al your euils and tribulations: and you haue said: Not so: but appoint a king ouer vs. Now therefore stand before our Lord by your tribes, and by your families.

20   And Samuel brought al the tribes of Israel, and the ^note lotte fel on the tribe of Beniamin.

21   And he brought the tribe of Beniamin and the kinreds thereof, and it fel vpon the kindred of Metri, and it came vnto Saul the sonne of Cis. They therfore fought him, and he was not found,

22   And after these thinges they consulted our Lord whether he would come thither. And our Lord answered: Behold he is hid at home.

23   They ranne therefore and tooke him from thence: and he stood in the middes of the people, and he was higher then al the people from the shoulder and vpward.

24   And Samuel said to al the people: Certes you see whom our Lord hath chosen, that

Samuel. Saul. there is not the like to him in al the people. And al the people cried, and sayd: God saue the King.

25   And Samuel spake to the people the law of the kingdom, and wrote it in a booke, and layd it vp before our Lord: and Samuel dismissed al the people, euerie one into his owne house.

26   But Saul also departed vnto his house into Gabaa: and there went with him part of the armie, they whose hartes God had touched.

27   But the children of Belial sayd: What shal this fellow be able to saue vs? and they despised him, and brought him not presentes: but he dissembled as though he heard not.

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