1 Samuel 16

¹And the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you go on sorrowing for Saul, seeing that I have put him from his place as king over Israel? Take oil in your vessel and go; I will send you to Jesse, the Beth-lehemite: for I have got a king for myself among his sons.

²And Samuel said, How is it possible for me to go? If Saul gets news of it he will put me to death. And the Lord said, Take a young cow with you and say, I have come to make an offering to the Lord.

³And send for Jesse to be present at the offering, and I will make clear to you what you are to do: and you are to put the holy oil on him whose name I give you.

⁴And Samuel did as the Lord said and came to Beth-lehem. And the responsible men of the town came out to him in fear and said, Do you come in peace?

⁵And he said, In peace: I have come to make an offering to the Lord: make yourselves clean and come with me to make the offering. And he made Jesse and his sons clean, and sent for them to be present at the offering.

⁶Now when they came, looking at Eliab, he said, Clearly the man of the Lord's selection is before him.

⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not take note of his face or how tall he is, because I will not have him: for the Lord's view is not man's; man takes note of the outer form, but the Lord sees the heart.

⁸Then Jesse sent for Abinadab and made him come before Samuel. And he said, The Lord has not taken this one.

⁹Then Jesse made Shammah come before him. And he said, The Lord has not taken this one.

¹⁰And Jesse made his seven sons come before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not taken any of these.