1 Samuel 16:1–12

David Is Anointed

16Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long^a will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel! Fill up your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons.” ²But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me.” Yahweh said, “You must take a heifer from the herd with you,^b and you must say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.’ ³You will invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will make known to you what you must do. You will anoint for me the one whom I tell you.”

⁴So Samuel did what Yahweh said. He came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. They said, “Have you come in peace?”^{c 5}He said, “I come in peace. I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” So he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶When they came,^d he^e saw Eliab and said, “Surely his anointed one is before Yahweh!” ⁷But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God does not see what man sees, for a man looks on the outward appearance,^f but Yahweh looks on the heart.”^{g 8}Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, “This one also Yahweh has not chosen.” ⁹So Jesse made Shammah pass before Samuel, but he said, “Yahweh also has not chosen this one.” ¹⁰And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen any of these.”

¹¹Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?”^h And he said, “The youngest still remains, but look, he is shepherding the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we cannot sit downⁱ until he comes here.” ¹²So he sent and brought him. Now he was ruddy with beautiful eyes and of handsome^j appearance. And Yahweh said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”