SHEPHERD BOY BECOMES KING
1 Samuel 16:1-13
1 And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for
Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill
thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the
Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2 And
Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear [it], he will kill me. And
the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to
sacrifice to the LORD. 3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I
will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me
[him] whom I name unto thee. 4 And Samuel did that which the LORD
spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled
at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5 And he said,
Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify
yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified
Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6 And it
came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and
said, Surely the LORD'S anointed [is] before him. 7 But the LORD
said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of
his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not
as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the
LORD looketh on the heart. 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made
him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen
this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither
hath the LORD chosen this. 10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons
to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath
not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all
[thy] children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest,
and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse,
Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he [was] ruddy, [and]
withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the
LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this [is] he. 13 Then Samuel
took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his
brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day
forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
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