1 Samuel 16:1-13 ▼

1 And YHWH said to Samuel, “Until when will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the Beth-lehemite, for I have provided among his sons for Myself a king.”

2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And YHWH said, “Take a heifer of the herd with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to YHWH.’

3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for Me whom I speak to you.”

4 And Samuel did what YHWH had spoken, and he came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come in peace?”

5 And he said, “In peace to sacrifice to YHWH I have come. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 And it was in their coming that he saw Eliab and said, “Surely before YHWH is His anointed.”

7 And YHWH said to Samuel, “Look not at his appearance, or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For it is not as the man sees—for the man looks at the eyes, and YHWH looks at the heart.”

8 And Jesse called to Abinadab and made him pass before the face of Samuel. And he said, “Also this one YHWH has not chosen.”

9 And Jesse made Shammah pass over, and he said, “This one YHWH has not chosen.”

10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass over before the face of Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “YHWH has not chosen these.”

11 And Samuel said to Jesse, “The young men are finished?” And he said, “Yet there remains the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.”

12 And he sent and brought him in, and he was ruddy with bright eyes, and good in appearance. And YHWH said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”

13 And Samuel took the horn of the oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of YHWH came upon David from that day and forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.