Study Desk

And the LORD said to Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

And Samuel did that which the LORD spoke, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?

And he said, Peaceably: I have come to sacrifice to the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the hight of his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose, and went to Ramah.

Let our lord now command thy servants, [who are] before thee, to seek a man [who is] a skillful player on a harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he will play with his hand, and thou wilt be well.

And Saul said to his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring [him] to me.

And Jesse took an ass [laden] with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent [them] by David his son to Saul.

And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armor-bearer.

And it came to pass, when the [evil] spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

And [he had] a helmet of brass upon his head, and he [was] armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat [was] five thousand shekels of brass.

And [he had] greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.

And the staff of his spear [was] like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head [weighed] six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

And the three eldest sons of Jesse went [and] followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle [were] Eliab the first-born, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Beth-lehem.

And Jesse said to David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched [corn], and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;

And David left his furniture in the hand of the keeper of the vessels, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.

And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that hath come up? surely to defy Israel hath he come: and it shall be, [that] the man who shall kill him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thy heart; for thou art come down that thou mayest see the battle.