1 Samuel 16:1-10 ▼

1 Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you be grieving over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I see among his sons a king for Me.”

2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and will kill me.” Then Yahweh said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.’

3 And you shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will make you know what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I say to you.”

4 So Samuel did what Yahweh said and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?”

5 And he said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Set yourselves apart as holy and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also set apart Jesse and his sons as holy and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 Now it happened, when they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the anointed of Yahweh is before Him.”

7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Yahweh has not chosen this one either.”

9 Next Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Yahweh has not chosen this one either.”

10 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen these.”