1 Samuel 16:1–7

David Anointed King

16 Now the Lord said to Samuel, a“How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? bFill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to cJesse the Bethlehemite. For dI have 1provided Myself a king among his sons.”

2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.”

But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, e‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”

4 So Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town ftrembled at his coming, and said, g“Do you come peaceably?”

5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. hSanctify 2yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 So it was, when they came, that he looked at iEliab and jsaid, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!”

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, k“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have 3refused him. lFor 4the Lord does not see as man sees; for man mlooks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the nheart.”