1
ADONAI said to Sh'mu'el, "How much longer are you going to go on grieving for Sha'ul, now that I have rejected him as king over Isra'el? Fill your horn with oil, and set out; I will send you to Yishai the Beit-Lachmi, because I have chosen myself a king from among his sons."
2
Sh'mu'el said, "How can I go? If Sha'ul hears of it, he will have me killed."ADONAI said, "Take a female cow with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to ADONAI.'
3
Summon Yishai to the sacrifice. I will tell you what to do, and you are to anoint for me the person I point out to you."
4
Sh'mu'el did what ADONAI said and arrived at Beit-Lechem. The leaders of the city came trembling to meet him and asked, "Are you coming in peace?"
5
He answered, "In peace. I have come to sacrifice to ADONAI. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." He consecrated Yishai and his sons and summoned them to the sacrifice.
6
When they had come, he looked at Eli'av and said, "This has to be ADONAI's anointed one, here before him."
7
But ADONAI said to Sh'mu'el, "Don't pay attention to how he looks or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. ADONAI doesn't see the way humans see - humans look at the outward appearance, but ADONAI looks at the heart."
8
Then Yishai called Avinadav and presented him to Sh'mu'el; but he said, "ADONAI hasn't chosen this one either."
9
Yishai presented Shammah; again Sh'mu'el said, "ADONAI hasn't chosen this one either."
10
Yishai presented seven of his sons to Sh'mu'el; but Sh'mu'el told Yishai, "ADONAI has not chosen these.
11
Are all your sons here?" Sh'mu'el asked Yishai. He replied, "There is still the youngest; he's out there tending the sheep." Sh'mu'el said to Yishai, "Send and bring him back, because we won't sit down to eat until he gets here."