16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. 1 Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, 2 for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” 3
16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you 4 and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 16:3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you should do. You will anoint for me the one I point out 5 to you.”
16:4 Samuel did what the Lord told him. 6 When he arrived in Bethlehem, 7 the elders of the city were afraid to meet him. They 8 said, “Do you come in peace?”
1 tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
3 tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”
4 tn Heb “in your hand.”
5 tn Heb “say”; KJV, NRSV “name”; NIV “indicate.”
6 tn Heb “said.”
7 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
8 tc In the MT the verb is singular (“he said”), but the translation follows many medieval Hebrew