1 Dixitque Dominus ad Samuelem: Usquequo tu luges Saul, cum ego projecerim eum ne regnet super Israël? Imple cornu tuum oleo, et veni, ut mittam te ad Isai Bethlehemitem: providi enim in filiis ejus mihi regem. 2 Et ait Samuel: Quomodo vadam? audiet enim Saul, et interficiet me. Et ait Dominus: Vitulum de armento tolles in manu tua, et dices: Ad immolandum Domino veni. 3 Et vocabis Isai ad victimam, et ego ostendam tibi quid facias, et unges quemcumque monstravero tibi. 4 Fecit ergo Samuel sicut locutus est ei Dominus. Venitque in Bethlehem, et admirati sunt seniores civitatis occurrentes ei: dixeruntque: Pacificusne est ingressus tuus? 5 Et ait: Pacificus: ad immolandum Domino veni: sanctificamini, et venite mecum ut immolem. Sanctificavit ergo Isai et filios ejus, et vocavit eos ad sacrificium. 6 Cumque ingressi essent, vidit Eliab, et ait: Num coram Domino est christus ejus? 7 Et dixit Dominus ad Samuelem: Ne respicias vultum ejus, neque altitudinem staturæ ejus: quoniam abjeci eum, nec juxta intuitum hominis ego judico: homo enim videt ea quæ parent, Dominus autem intuetur cor. 8 Et vocavit Isai Abinadab, et adduxit eum coram Samuele. Qui dixit: Nec hunc elegit Dominus. 9 Adduxit autem Isai Samma, de quo ait: Etiam hunc non elegit Dominus. 10 Adduxit itaque Isai septem filios suos coram Samuele: et ait Samuel ad Isai: Non elegit Dominus ex istis. 11 Dixitque Samuel ad Isai: Numquid jam completi sunt filii? Qui respondit: Adhuc reliquus est parvulus, et pascit oves. Et ait Samuel ad Isai: Mitte, et adduc eum: nec enim discumbemus priusquam huc ille veniat. 12 Misit ergo, et adduxit eum. Erat autem rufus, et pulcher aspectu, decoraque facie: et ait Dominus: Surge, unge eum: ipse est enim. 13 Tulit ergo Samuel cornu olei, et unxit eum in medio fratrum ejus: et directus est spiritus Domini a die illa in David, et deinceps. Surgensque Samuel abiit in Ramatha. 14 Spiritus autem Domini recessit a Saul, et exagitabat eum spiritus nequam a Domino. 15 Dixeruntque servi Saul ad eum: Ecce spiritus Dei malus exagitat te. 16 Jubeat dominus noster, et servi tui qui coram te sunt quærent hominem scientem psallere cithara, ut quando arripuerit te spiritus Domini malus, psallat manu sua, et levius feras. 17 Et ait Saul ad servos suos: Providete ergo mihi aliquem bene psallentem, et adducite eum ad me. 18 Et respondens unus de pueris, ait: Ecce vidi filium Isai Bethlehemitem scientem psallere, et fortissimum robore, et virum bellicosum, et prudentem in verbis, et virum pulchrum: et Dominus est cum eo. 19 Misit ergo Saul nuntios ad Isai, dicens: Mitte ad me David filium tuum, qui est in pascuis. 20 Tulit itaque Isai asinum plenum panibus, et lagenam vini, et hædum de capris unum, et misit per manum David filii sui Sauli. 21 Et venit David ad Saul, et stetit coram eo: at ille dilexit eum nimis, et factus est ejus armiger. 22 Misitque Saul ad Isai, dicens: Stet David in conspectu meo: invenit enim gratiam in oculis meis. 23 Igitur quandocumque spiritus Domini malus arripiebat Saul, David tollebat citharam, et percutiebat manu sua, et refocillabatur Saul, et levius habebat: recedebat enim ab eo spiritus malus.
1 Samuel 16 Clementine Vulgate
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
Shimea
A brother of David whose son Jonadab and nephew Jonathan appear later in David's story.
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 16:9; 2 Samuel 13:3
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)