1 Samuel 16:1-13

Thomson(i) 1 therefore the Lord said to Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul? As for me, I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill thy horn with oil, and come, let me send thee to Jessai to Bethlehem; for I have seen among his sons a king for me. 2 And Samuel said, How can I go? Saul will hear and will kill me. And the Lord said, Take with thee a heifer from the kine, and thou shalt say, I come to sacrifice to the Lord; 3 and thou shalt invite Jessai to the sacrifice, and I will let thee know what thou shalt do, and thou shalt anoint him whom I point out to thee. 4 So Samuel did all that the Lord spoke to him. Now when he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city were surprised at meeting him, and said, Seer! Is thy coming peaceable? 5 And he said, It is peaceable. I come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and rejoice with me to-day. And when he was hallowing Jessai and his sons and inviting them to the sacrifice, 6 he beheld Eliab as they were coming in and said, Is not the Lord's anointed before him? 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, nor the height of his stature, for I have rejected him: for God looketh not superficially as man looketh; for man looketh at the outward appearance, but God will look to the heart. 8 Then Jessai called Aminadab, and he passed by before Samuel. And when he said God hath not chosen him, 9 Jessai brought forward Sama; but he said, Neither hath the Lord made choice of him. 10 And when Jessai had brought his seven sons before Samuel, Samuel said, The Lord hath not made a choice among these. 11 Then Samuel said to Jessai, Are these all thy children? And he said, There is still one more, the youngest. Behold he is tending the flock. And Samuel said to Jessai, Send for him; for we cannot sit down till he come. 12 So he sent for him. Now he was of a ruddy complexion, with beautiful eyes, and comely in appearance to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, Arise and anoint David, for he is good. 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And a Spirit of the Lord came upon David, from that day forward. Then Samuel arose and went to Armathaim.