The Lord said to Samuel the prophet, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing that I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go to Bethlehem, I will send you to Jesse: for I provided me a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go?; if Saul hears about me going he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take an heifer with you and say, I am going to offer up a sacrifice to the Lord, and call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you should do; and you anoint him unto Me, whom I will tell you.” Samuel did as the Lord had told him. When he got to Bethlehem the elders of the town trembled because he was there, and they asked him, “Do you come in peace?” He answered, “Yes, I am come to offer up a sacrifice to the Lord: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Therefore Samuel sanctified Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. The name of Jesse’s sons were: Eliab, Abinadab, Shimma, Nethaneel, Raddai, Ozem, and David. When all of Jesse’s sons were gathered together, Samuel looked at Eliab and said, Surely the Lord’s anointing is on you.” The Lord said unto Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his height, because I have refused him: because the Lord does not see as men sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Therefore, Jesse made all of his sons gather together, and made each one of them stand in front of Samuel; as each one did he would say, “No, the Lord has not chosen this one.” Then Jesse made each one of his sons stand before Samuel the second time, and, he said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” Samuel then asked Jesse, “Are these all of your children?” He said, “There is one more, the youngest, and he takes care of the sheep.” Samuel said, “Go and get him, we will not sit down until he is here.” So he did. David was ruddy, (reddish of the hair or the complexion) and a very good-looking young man. The Lord said, “Arise, and anoint him: for he is the one.” Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed David in front of all of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord was on David from that day on, but the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord possessed him. Saul’s servants said to him, “Tell us lord that stand before you to look for a man who is a talented harp player, so that when the evil spirit from God is on you, he will play his harp and you will be well. Saul said to his servants, “Find me a man that can play well and bring him to me, now.
One of the servants said, “I have seen one of Jesse’s the Bethlehemite sons who is talented in playing, and a mighty brave man, a man of war, wise in matters a nice looking person and the Lord is with him. Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Let me see David your son which is with the sheep. Jesse sent a donkey with a great variety of bread, a bottle of wine and a goat and gave them to David to give to Saul. He went to Saul and stood in front of him and, he loved him greatly. Saul made him his bodyguard. Therefore, Saul sent a message to Jesse saying, “Let David, I ask of you, stand with me, because he has found favor in my sight. When the evil spirit was on Saul, David would play his harp and the evil spirit would leave him and he would be well. The Philistines gathered together at Shochoh, which belonged to Judah, between Shodoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammin. Saul and the men of Israel were all together and camped by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in order to fight against the Philistines. All the Philistines stood on a mountain and, the Israelites stood on a mountain on the other side: there was a valley between them. Afterwards, out of the Philistine army came a great man of war named Goliath, of Gath who was thirteen feet and four inches tall. He had a helmet of brass on his head, he was armed with a coat of metal; and the weight of his coat was approx. 194.5 pounds. He had thongs around his calves and ankles made of brass and a shield of brass covering his chest. The handle of his sword was like a weaver’s beam, and his sword’s top weighed approx. 23 ½ pounds. It was made of iron, and there stood a man in front of him carrying a shield.
He stood and shouted at the armies of Israel and said, “Why are you come out to set your armies in order? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants of Saul’s? Choose a man and, let him come and face me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants: but if I overtake him and kill him, then you will be our servants, and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “I will make the armies of Israel surrender today; let a man come down here so I can fight with him.” When Saul and the Israelites heard what the Philistine had said, they were discouraged and very afraid. David was the son
