1 Samuel 9:13

9:13 When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for ¹  this is the time when you can find him!”

1 Samuel 16:3-5

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 tc The MT has “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto) here, in addition to the “him” at the end of the verse. The ancient versions attest to only one occurrence of the pronoun, although it is possible that this is due to translation technique rather than to their having a Hebrew text with the pronoun used only once. The present translation assumes textual duplication in the MT and does not attempt to represent the pronoun twice. However, for a defense of the MT here, with the suggested translation “for him just now – you will find him,” see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 72-73.

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 mss and ancient versions in reading the plural (“they said”).