1 Samuel 16:10-11

16:10 Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel. ¹  But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 16:11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Is that all of the young men?” Jesse ²  replied, “There is still the youngest one, but he’s taking care of the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we cannot turn our attention to other things until he comes here.”

1 Samuel 16:1

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ³  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ⁴  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ⁵ 

1 Samuel 2:13-16

2:13 Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: ⁶  Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork ⁷  in his hand. 2:14 He would jab it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot, and everything that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all the Israelites ⁸  when they came there to Shiloh.

2:15 Even before they burned the fat, the priest’s attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, “Hand over some meat for the priest to roast! He won’t take boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ⁹  2:16 If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ¹⁰  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

¹ tn Heb “caused seven of his sons to pass before Samuel.” This could be taken as referring to seven sons in addition to the three mentioned before this, but 1 Sam 17:12 says Jesse had eight sons, not eleven. 1 Chr 2:13-15 lists only seven sons, including David. However, 1 Chr 27:18 mentions an additional son, named Elihu.

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jesse) has been specified in the translation both here and in v. 12 for clarity.

³ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

⁵ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

⁶ tn Heb “the habit of the priests with the people [was this].”

⁷ sn The Hebrew word occurs only twice in the OT, here and again in v. 14. Its exact meaning is not entirely clear, although from the context it appears to be a sacrificial tool used for retrieving things from boiling water.

⁸ tn Heb “to all Israel.”

⁹ tn Heb “living.”

¹⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”