At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Yahweh’s Spirit will come mightily on you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be turned into another man.
- KJV And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.
- BSB Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be transformed into a different person.
- NKJV Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
- NASB Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be changed into a different man.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Spirit of the Lord will rush upon Saul so that he prophesies and is changed into a different man. This is God equipping him for the office he never sought.
Overview
The 'mighty' coming of the Spirit echoes the empowering of judges like Gideon and Samson, marking Saul as God's chosen deliverer. The change into 'another man' is an enabling for his royal task rather than a guarantee of lasting godliness, as the rest of his story shows. The episode points forward to the greater anointed King, and ultimately to the Spirit who permanently transforms believers in the new covenant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Sam 10:10When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them.
- 1 Sam 19:23–24He went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then God’s Spirit came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
- Num 11:25Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.
- 1 Sam 16:13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the middle of his brothers. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
- Judg 14:6Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat; and he had nothing in his hand, but he didn’t tell his father or his mother what he had done.
- Judg 3:10Yahweh’s Spirit came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. His hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim.
- Matt 7:22Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 10:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.