1 There was an old man called Kish. He was an important man. He was from Benjamin’s tribe. His father was Abiyel. His grand-father was Zeror. His great grand-father was Becorath, and his great great grand-father was Afiah. 2 Kish had a son called Saul. He was a young man with a properly good-looking face, and he was a lot taller than anybody else of the Israel mob.

3 Kish had some donkeys, and one day, those donkeys wandered away and got lost. Kish said to his son Saul, “Go and look for those donkeys. Take one of the working men with you.”

4 So they went off to look for them. First they went and looked in the hill country that belongs to the Ephraim tribe. From there they went and looked in Shalisha country. But nothing, they didn’t find them. From there they went to look in the Shalim country. Still nothing. They also looked in the country that belongs to the Benjamin tribe, but they didn’t find them.

5 They went as far as the Zuf country. Then Saul said, “We’ve come a long way. Let’s go back, or my father might worry about us now, instead of those donkeys.”

6 But his working man said, “Wait a minute. What about that old man that tells God’s messages? He lives in this place. Everybody knows that he is God’s man. Whenever he says that something is going to happen, later it happens. We can ask him. He might tell us the place to look for the donkeys.”

14 After they got to that place, they saw the old man Samuel as he came towards them. He wanted to go up the hill, to the place where they used to burn meat to give to God. 15 You see, God talked to him the day before that, God said to him, 16 “I see that the Philistia mob makes trouble for my people. They cried out to me to help them, and I am listening to them. At about this time tomorrow, I will send a young man to you. He is from Benjamin’s tribe. He will rescue my people from the Philistia mob. Pour olive oil on his head to show that I pick him to be the big boss for my people, the Israel mob.”

17 Samuel saw Saul as he came towards him, and God said to him, “There he is. He’s the one I told you about yesterday. He will be the big boss for my people.” 18 So Samuel waited for him at the town gate.

You see, Saul hadn’t met that old man before. He didn’t know him, so he said to him, “They say there’s an old man that sees dreams from God, and he lives in this place. Where is his house?”

19 Samuel answered, “That’s me. I’m the man that sees dreams. You 2 go ahead up that hill, to that place. We burn meat there to give it to God. Today you will both eat with me, and tomorrow I will tell you whatever you want to know. Then you can go back home. 20 Oh, and those donkeys that ran away 3 days ago, don’t worry about them. Other people already found them. But think about this story now. Lots of people are saying, ‘One of Kish’s mob should be the big boss for us, the Israel mob.’ ”

25 Later on, they came back from the top of the hill to Samuel’s house, and Samuel took Saul up on to the flat roof, to a clear place, so they could talk to each other. It was cool up on the roof at night, so Saul and his working man slept up there.

26 Early the next morning Samuel called out, “Get up you 2. It’s time to go home now.”

Saul got ready, then he and Samuel started to walk to the town gate. 27 Samuel said to him, “Send your working man ahead. You wait here. I want to tell you the word of God.” So the working man started to walk ahead.