Saul becomes the first king of Israel

17 Samuel sent a message to all Israel's people. He told them to come to Mizpah to meet with the Lord. 18 He said to them, ‘This is a message from the Lord, Israel's God: “I led you Israelites out from Egypt. I saved you from the power of the Egyptians. I also saved you from other kingdoms that were cruel to you. 19 I am the one who saves you from all your pain and troubles. But now you have turned against me, your God. You have said, ‘No! We want a king to rule over us instead.’ So now come and stand in front of the Lord. Stand together in your tribes and in your clans.” ’

20 So each tribe came forward to Samuel, tribe by tribe. God chose Benjamin's tribe. 21 Then each family from Benjamin's tribe went forward. God chose the family of Matri. Then God chose Kish's son Saul from the family of Matri. They looked for Saul but nobody could find him. 22 So they asked the Lord, ‘Has Saul arrived here yet?’ The Lord said, ‘Yes, but he is hiding among the luggage.’

23 So they ran to find Saul. They brought him out from there. When Saul stood among the people, you could see his head above everyone else. 24 Samuel said to all the people, ‘Look! Here is the man that the Lord has chosen. There is nobody like him among all the people.’ Then the people shouted, ‘May the king live for a long time!’

25 Then Samuel explained to the people all the rules about a king. He wrote everything in a book. He put the book in a special place where they worshipped the Lord. Then Samuel told all the people to go to back to their homes. 26 Saul himself went back to his home at Gibeah. A group of brave men went with him. God had caused them to want to do that. 27 But some wicked men were complaining. They said, ‘This man will never be able to save us.’ They did not respect Saul. They did not bring him any gifts. But Saul did not say anything against them.

1 Samuel 11

Saul saves Jabesh town

1 One month later, Nahash went with his army to attack Jabesh, a town in Gilead region. Nahash was an Ammonite. The people in Jabesh said to him, ‘Make an agreement with us so that we will serve you.’ 2 Nahash said, ‘I will make an agreement with you only if you let me do this. I must cut out the right eye of every person in your town. I want to bring shame on all Israel's people.’

3 The leaders of Jabesh said to him, ‘Wait for seven more days. We will send a message to all the people in Israel. We will ask them to rescue us. If nobody comes to save us, we will agree to whatever you say.’

4 Men took the message to Gibeah, the town where Saul lived. When they told the news to the people there, the people started to weep loudly. 5 Saul had been out on his farm. As he was returning home with his cows, he asked, ‘What has happened here? Why are the people weeping?’ They told Saul what the men from Jabesh had said.

6 When Saul heard the news, God's Spirit came on him with power. He became very angry. 7 He killed two of his oxen. He cut their bodies into pieces. He sent men with the pieces to all the towns in Israel. In each town, the men said, ‘Everyone must join Saul and Samuel to fight in their army. If you do not agree to join them, they will cut up your oxen just like this!’ The people became very afraid of what the Lord would do. So they all came together as one army. 8 They met together at Bezek. Saul counted 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 men from Judah.

9 Saul said to the men who had brought the news from Jabesh, ‘Return to Jabesh. Tell the people, “We will come to rescue you tomorrow, before midday.” ’

So the men took the message to the people in Jabesh. The people were very happy. 10 The men there said to Nahash, ‘Tomorrow we will come out of the town to you. Then you can do anything that you want to us.’

11 Early the next day, Saul put his soldiers into three groups. At dawn, they attacked the camp of the Ammonite soldiers. The Israelite soldiers continued to kill the Ammonites until midday. The Ammonite soldiers who were still alive ran away in different directions. Each man ran off by himself.

12 The Israelite people said to Samuel, ‘Bring to us those men who said, “We do not want Saul to rule over us.” We must kill them!’

13 Saul said, ‘No, you must not kill anyone today. It is the day when the Lord has rescued Israel's people.’

14 Samuel said to the people, ‘Now we will all go to Gilgal. We must all agree that Saul will continue to be our king.’ 15 So everyone went to Gilgal. They went to the place where they worshipped the Lord. They all agreed that Saul would be their king. They offered peace offerings to the Lord. Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.