1. And יהוה said to Shemu’ĕl, “How long are you going to mourn for Sha’ul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Yisra’ĕl? Fill your horn with oil, and go, I am sending you to Yishai the Bĕyth Leḥemite. For I have seen among his sons a sovereign for Myself.”
2. And Shemu’ĕl said, “How would I go? When Sha’ul hears it, he shall kill me.” And יהוה said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to slaughter to יהוה.’
3. “And you shall invite Yishai to the slaughtering, then let Me show you what to do. And you shall anoint for Me the one I say to you.”
4. And Shemu’ĕl did what יהוה said, and went to Bĕyth Leḥem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come in peace?”
5. And he said, “In peace. I have come to slaughter to יהוה. Set yourselves apart, and you shall come with me to the slaughtering.” And he set Yishai and his sons apart, and invited them to the slaughtering.
6. And it came to be, when they came, that he saw Eliyaḇ and thought, “The anointed of יהוה is indeed before Him.”
7. But יהוה said to Shemu’ĕl, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him, for not as man sees, for man looks at the eyes, but יהוה looks at the heart.”
8. Then Yishai called Aḇinaḏaḇ, and made him pass before Shemu’ĕl. And he said, “Neither has יהוה chosen this one.”
9. Next Yishai made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has יהוה chosen this one.”
10. And Yishai made seven of his sons pass before Shemu’ĕl. And Shemu’ĕl said to Yishai, “יהוה has not chosen these.”
11. And Shemu’ĕl said to Yishai, “Are these all the young men?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and see, he is tending the sheep.” And Shemu’ĕl said to Yishai, “Send and bring him, for we do not turn round till he comes here.”
12. And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And יהוה said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is the one!”