1 Samuel 16:1

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ¹  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ²  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ³ 

1 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Goliath ⁴  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ⁵  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ⁶  for yourselves a man so he may come down ⁷  to me!

1 Samuel 20:21

20:21 When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; ⁸  get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem.

¹ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

² map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

³ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

⁶ tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.

⁷ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

⁸ tn Heb “from you and here.”