David Anointed King

16 The Lord said to Samuel, ^(A)“How long will you grieve over Saul, since ^(B)I have rejected him from being king over Israel? ^(C)Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, ^(D)for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” ² And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ^(E)‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. ^(F)And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” ⁴ Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city ^(G)came to meet him trembling and said, ^(H)“Do you come peaceably?” ⁵ And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. ^(I)Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they came, he looked on ^(J)Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.”

¹⁹ For you gladly bear with fools, ^(A)being wise yourselves! ²⁰ For you bear it if someone ^(B)makes slaves of you, or ^(C)devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ^(D)strikes you in the face. ²¹ To my shame, I must say, ^(E)we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.

²⁴ And ^(A)the Lord's servant^[a] must not be quarrelsome but ^(B)kind to everyone, ^(C)able to teach, patiently enduring evil,