1 And 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. 2 And 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. 3 And 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. 4 And 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? 5 And 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. 6 Now when they came, looking at Eliab, he said, Clearly the man of the Lord's selection is before him. 7 But 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. 8 Then Jesse sent for Abinadab and made him come before Samuel. And he said, The Lord has not taken this one. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah come before him. And he said, The Lord has not taken this one. 10 And Jesse made his seven sons come before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not taken any of these. 11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your children here? And he said, There is still the youngest, and he is looking after the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and make him come here: for we will not take our seats till he is here. 12 So he sent and made him come in. Now he had red hair and beautiful eyes and pleasing looks. And the Lord said, Come, put the oil on him, for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the bottle of oil, and put the oil on him there among his brothers: and from that day the spirit of the Lord came on David with power. So Samuel went back to Ramah. 14 Now the spirit of the Lord had gone from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord was troubling him. 15 And Saul's servants said to him, See now, an evil spirit from God is troubling you. 16 Now give orders to your servants who are here before you to go in search of a man who is an expert player on a corded instrument: and it will be that when the evil spirit from God is on you, he will make music for you on his instrument, and you will get well. 17 And Saul said to his servants, Then get me a man who is an expert player, and make him come to me. 18 Then one of the servants in answer said, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Beth-lehemite, who is expert at playing, and a strong man and a man of war; and he is wise in his words, and pleasing in looks, and the Lord is with him. 19 So Saul sent his servants to Jesse and said, Send me your son David who is with the sheep. 20 And Jesse took five cakes of bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David. 21 And David came to Saul, waiting before him: and he became very dear to Saul, who made him his servant, giving him the care of his arms. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse saying, Let David be with me, for he is pleasing to me. 23 And whenever the evil spirit from God came on Saul, David took his instrument and made music: so new life came to Saul, and he got well, and the evil spirit went away from him.
1 Samuel · Bible in Basic English
1 Samuel 16 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Abinadab
A brother of David who passed before Samuel and later served in Saul's army.
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 16:8; 1 Samuel 17:13
David
The shepherd who became Israel's greatest king and a man after God's own heart.
Cited in the guide: 1 Sam. 16 - 1 Kings 2; 2 Sam. 7; 1 Chron. 2:15; Matt. 1:6
Eliab
Jesse's tall firstborn, passed over when Samuel came to anoint a king from among his sons.
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 16:6; 1 Samuel 17:28
Jesse
The Bethlehemite whose youngest son David was anointed king of Israel.
Cited in the guide: 1 Sam. 16:1-13; Isa. 11:1; Ruth 4:22; Matt. 1:5-6
Cross references (20)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Kings 9:1; 1 Samuel 15:23; 1 Samuel 15:35; Psalm 78:68–71; Romans 15:12
- 2 1 Samuel 9:12; 1 Samuel 20:29; Matthew 10:16; Luke 1:34; Jeremiah 38:26–27
- 3 1 Samuel 9:16; 2 Samuel 15:11; 1 Samuel 16:12–13; Acts 9:6; 1 Samuel 9:12–13
- 4 1 Kings 2:13; 1 Samuel 21:1; 1 Chronicles 12:17–18; 2 Kings 9:22; Luke 5:8
- 5 Exodus 19:10; Leviticus 20:7–8; Joshua 3:5; Joshua 7:13; Exodus 19:14–15
- 6 1 Samuel 17:13; 1 Chronicles 2:13
- 7 John 7:24; Jeremiah 17:10; Luke 16:15; Isaiah 55:8–9; 1 Peter 3:4
- 8 1 Samuel 17:13; 1 Chronicles 2:13
- 9 1 Samuel 17:13; 2 Samuel 13:3; 1 Chronicles 2:13
- 10 1 Chronicles 2:13–15
- 11 Psalm 78:70–71; 2 Samuel 7:8; 1 Samuel 17:28; 1 Chronicles 17:7; 2 Samuel 13:3
- 12 Song of Songs 5:10; Lamentations 4:7; 1 Samuel 17:42; Psalm 89:19–20; 1 Samuel 9:17
- 13 1 Samuel 10:6; Hebrews 1:9; John 3:34; 1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 10:9–10
- 14 Psalm 51:11; 1 Samuel 18:12; Judges 9:23; 1 Samuel 28:15; 1 Samuel 18:10
- 16 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Kings 10:8; 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Samuel 19:9; 1 Samuel 16:21–23
- 18 1 Samuel 3:19; Genesis 39:23; Genesis 39:2; 1 Samuel 17:32–36; 1 Samuel 10:7
- 19 1 Samuel 17:15; 1 Samuel 16:11; Psalm 78:70–72; Matthew 4:18–22; 1 Kings 19:19
- 20 1 Samuel 10:27; Proverbs 18:16; 1 Samuel 17:18; 1 Samuel 25:18; Genesis 43:11
- 21 Genesis 41:46; Proverbs 22:29; Psalm 146:3; Psalm 118:9; Deuteronomy 10:8
- 23 1 Samuel 16:14–16; 1 Samuel 18:10–11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… him the person of mankind, and hath heeded the bonds of all men, hath considered the offspring of death, hath adverted to the origin of iniquity, and he saith, "For, behold, in iniquities I was conceived." Was David born of adultery; being born of Jesse, a righteous man, and his own wife?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
Though again it be Samuel who is doing this, He saith unto him, "Mourn not thou for Saul." Though for his own sister one entreat, when it is not fitting, he again shall have the same sort of answer as Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face." Let us not then be looking open-mouthed towards others.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… generally, their variable conditions, so, very frequently is the Spirit in the soul; since He does not abide with those who, on account of the instability of their will, easily reject the grace which they have received. An instance of this is seen in Saul, and the seventy elders of the children of Israel, except Eldad and Medad, with whom …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
… Benjamin, or the tribe of Benjamin He chose not, out of which a king already had begun to be; for thence there had been chosen Saul; whence because of the very proximity of the time, when he had been rejected and refused, and David chosen, this might conveniently have been said; but yet was not said: but he hath named …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)