SAMUEL ANOINTS DAVID

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul,f since I have rejected him as king over Israel?g Fill your horn with oilh and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehemi because I have selected for myself a king from his sons.”

2 Samuel asked, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!”

The Lord answered, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’j 3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do.k You are to anoint for me the one I indicate to you.”l

4 Samuel did what the Lord directed and went to Bethlehem.m When the elders of the town met him, they trembledD and asked, “DoE you come in peace?”n

5 “In peace,” he replied. “I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselveso and come with me to the sacrifice.”F Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliabp and said, “Certainly the Lord’s anointed one is here before him.”

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees,G for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”q

8 Jesse called Abinadabr and presented him to Samuel. “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either,” Samuel said. 9 Then Jesse presented Shammah,s but Samuel said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.”