all judge us and go before us, and he shall
fight our battles for us.

And Samuel heard all and counselled with our Lord. To whom God commanded
to ordain to them a king, and so he did, for he took a man of the tribe
of Benjamin whose name was Saul, a good man and chosen, and there was
not a better among all the children of Israel, and he was higher of
stature from the shoulder upward than any other of all the people. And
Samuel anointed him king upon Israel, and said to him: Our Lord God hath
anointed thee upon his heritage and ordained thee a prince, and thou
shalt deliver his people from the hands of his enemies that be in the
circuit and countries about, and so departed from him. And Samuel after
this gathered the people together and said: Our Lord saith that he hath
brought you from the land of Egypt, and saved you from the hands of all
the kings that were your enemies and pursued you, and ye have forsaken
our Lord God that hath only delivered you from all your evil and
tribulations, and have said: Ordain upon us a king. Wherefore now stand
every each in his tribe, and we shall lot who shall be our king. And the
lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin, and in that tribe the lot fell upon
Saul the son of Kish. And they sought him and could not find him, and it
was told him that he was hid in his house at home, and the people ran
thither and fetched him and set him amidst all the people. And he was
higher than any of all the people from the shoulder upward. Then Samuel
said to the people, Now ye see and behold whom our Lord hath chosen, for
there is none like him of all the people. And then all the people cried:
Vivat Rex, live the king. Samuel wrote the law of the realm to the
people in a book, and put it tofore our Lord. Thus was Saul made the
first king in Israel, and anon had much war, for on all sides men warred
on the children of Israel, and he defended them, and Saul had divers
battles and had victory.

Samuel came on a time to Saul and said God commanded him to fight
against Amalek and that he should slay and destroy man, woman, and
child, ox, cow, camel and ass and sheep, and spare nothing. Then Saul
assembled his people and had two hundred thousand footmen and twenty
thousand men of the tribe of Judah, and went forth and fought against
Amalek and slew them, sauf he saved Agag the King of Amalek alive, and
all other he slew, but he spared the best flocks of sheep and of other
beasts, and also good clothes, and wet