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Saturday, April 11th, 2026
Saturday in Easter Week
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Chinese NCV (Simplified)

撒母耳记上 16:2

撒母耳說:“我怎能去呢?掃羅聽見了,必定殺我。”耶和華說:“你可以帶一頭母牛犢去,就說:‘我來是要向耶和華獻祭。’

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church and State;   Cowardice;   Doubting;   Jesse;   King;   Minister, Christian;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Children;   Home;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Stories for Children;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - David;   Jesse;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Samuel;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Covenant;   Elect, Election;   Kill, Killing;   Lie, Lying;   Philippians, Theology of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Prayer;   Easton Bible Dictionary - David;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Pentateuch;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Bethlehem;   Heifer;   Samuel, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Bethlehem;   David;   Eucharist;   Heifer;   Prayer;   Priests and Levites;   Sacrifice and Offering;   Samuel, Books of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Jesse ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Kingdom of christ of heaven;   Kingdom of god;   Kingdom of heaven;   Saul;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Altar;   Anoint;   Government of the Hebrews;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Heifer;   Jesse;   Samuel;   Samuel, Books of;   Shammah;  

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
撒 母 耳 说 : 我 怎 能 去 呢 ? 扫 罗 若 听 见 , 必 要 杀 我 。 耶 和 华 说 : 你 可 以 带 一 只 牛 犊 去 , 就 说 : 我 来 是 要 向 耶 和 华 献 祭 。

Contextual Overview

1 The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you continue to feel sorry for Saul? I have rejected him as king of Israel. Fill your container with olive oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse who lives in Bethlehem, because I have chosen one of his sons to be king." 2 But Samuel said, "If I go, Saul will hear the news and will try to kill me." The Lord said, "Take a young calf with you. Say, ‘I have come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord .' 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice. Then I will tell you what to do. You must appoint the one I show you." 4 Samuel did what the Lord told him to do. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of Bethlehem shook with fear. They met him and asked, "Are you coming in peace?" 5 Samuel answered, "Yes, I come in peace. I have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord . Set yourselves apart to the Lord and come to the sacrifice with me." Then he set Jesse and his sons apart to the Lord , and he invited them to come to the sacrifice.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

How can I go: Exodus 3:11, 1 Kings 18:9-14, Matthew 10:16, Luke 1:34

Take an heifer: For the prudent management of the affair, and to avoid suspicion, Samuel was directed to go to Bethlehem to sacrifice, as he probably did from time to time in many different places; and the answer which he was instructed to return was strictly true though he did not tell the principal design of his coming; for though no man in any circumstances should tell a lie, yet, in all circumstances, he is not bound to tell the whole truth, though he must tell nothing but the truth, and so tell that truth that the hearer shall not believe a lie by it.

with thee: Heb. in thine hand, 1 Samuel 9:12

I am come: 1 Samuel 9:12, 1 Samuel 20:29, Jeremiah 38:26, Jeremiah 38:27

Reciprocal: Genesis 34:30 - and I shall Leviticus 17:8 - that offereth 1 Samuel 7:9 - a sucking 1 Samuel 20:6 - sacrifice 2 Samuel 15:7 - pay 2 Samuel 15:8 - thy servant 2 Kings 9:3 - and flee Matthew 2:22 - he was Acts 9:13 - Lord

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "You gave this woman to me and she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it."
Genesis 3:17
Then God said to the man, "You listened to what your wife said, and you ate fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat. "So I will put a curse on the ground, and you will have to work very hard for your food. In pain you will eat its food all the days of your life.
Genesis 16:1
Sarai, Abram's wife, had no children, but she had a slave girl from Egypt named Hagar.
Genesis 16:2
Sarai said to Abram, "Look, the Lord has not allowed me to have children, so have sexual relations with my slave girl. If she has a child, maybe I can have my own family through her." Abram did what Sarai said.
Genesis 16:4
Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar learned she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress Sarai badly.
Genesis 16:6
But Abram said to Sarai, "You are Hagar's mistress. Do anything you want to her." Then Sarai was hard on Hagar, and Hagar ran away.
Genesis 16:9
The angel of the Lord said to her, "Go home to your mistress and obey her."
Genesis 16:10
The angel also said, "I will give you so many descendants they cannot be counted."
Genesis 17:16
I will bless her and give her a son, and you will be the father. She will be the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will come from her."
Genesis 18:10
Then the Lord said, "I will certainly return to you about this time a year from now. At that time your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent which was behind him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Samuel said, how can I go?.... Which argues weakness of faith in Samuel, and fear of man, and a diffidence in and distrust of divine power; for otherwise he that sent him on such an errand could protect him:

if Saul hear it, he will kill me; should hear that Samuel went and anointed another king, it would so enrage him, that he would either immediately lay hands on him, and put him to death, or order him to be put to death; and indeed were it not that this was done by the command of God, he would deserve to die; it being an overt act of treason to anoint another king:

and the Lord said, take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord; a peace offering, which might be done any where in those unsettled times, the ark being at one place, and the tabernacle at another; and might be offered upon a private altar, and by a private person; and as it seems Samuel used to sacrifice at different places; see 1 Samuel 7:9. Ben Gersom relates it as the sense of one of their Rabbins in his age, that there was a person slain in those parts, not known by whom he was slain; and so Samuel is ordered to take an heifer to fulfil the law in Deuteronomy 21:1 and therefore Saul would make no inquiry into his reason of going thither with an heifer, and this is commended both by him and Abarbinel.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It was the purpose of God that David should be anointed at this time as Saul’s successor, and as the ancestor and the type of His Christ. It was not the purpose of God that Samuel should stir up a civil war, by setting up David as Saul’s rival. Secrecy, therefore, was a necessary part of the transaction. But secrecy and concealment are not the same as duplicity and falsehood. Concealment of a good purpose, for a good purpose, is clearly justifiable. There is therefore nothing in the least inconsistent with truth in the occurrence here related. Compare Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:1; Exodus 9:13.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 16:2. Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice — This was strictly true; Samuel did offer a sacrifice; and it does not appear that he could have done the work which God designed, unless he had offered this sacrifice, and called the elders of the people together, and thus collected Jesse's sons. But he did not tell the principal design of his coming; had he done so, it would have produced evil and no good: and though no man, in any circumstances, should ever tell a lie, yet in all circumstances he is not obliged to tell the whole truth, though in every circumstance he must tell nothing but the truth, and in every case so tell the truth that the hearer shall not believe a lie by it.


 
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