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 1 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 2 to you.”
16:4 Samuel did what the Lord told him. 3 When he arrived in Bethlehem, 4 the elders of the city were afraid to meet him. They 5 said, “Do you come in peace?” 16:5 He replied, “Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” So he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
1 tn Heb “in your hand.”
2 tn Heb “say”; KJV, NRSV “name”; NIV “indicate.”
3 tn Heb “said.”
4 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
5 tc In the MT the verb is singular (“he said”), but the translation follows many medieval Hebrew