1 After that, God said to Samuel, “Saul is not a good boss any more. I will not help him now. Why do you keep on being sad for him? Forget about him now. Get a bottle of olive oil. Go and see that old man Jesse at the place called Bethlehem. I picked one of his sons to be the new big boss of Israel.”

2 Samuel said, “I can’t do that. Somebody might tell Saul, and he might kill me dead.”

But God said, “Take a young cow with you. Say this to the Bethlehem mob, ‘I came here to burn this young cow, to give it to God.’ 3 And tell the old man Jesse and his sons to come too. At that time, I will show you the man that I picked. You have to pour olive oil on his head. That will show that I am picking him to be the big boss of Israel.”

4 Samuel listened to God, and he went to Bethlehem. After he got there, the elders of the town came to meet him. They were really afraid. They were so frightened that they shook, and they asked, “Did you come with good news? Or are you angry with us?”

5 Samuel answered, “No, I came happily. I came to burn this young cow with you mob, to give it to God. You have to wash and get ready. You have to be clean in God’s way before we can burn this young cow.” He also told Jesse and his sons to come. And he helped them to get ready.

6 After they came together, Samuel saw Jesse’s oldest son. His name was Eliab. Samuel thought, “I reckon this is the one God has picked to be the big boss.”

7 But God said to Samuel, “No, not this one. I didn’t pick him. You just see that he has a strong tall body. You people look at the outside of a person, but I know what they are like inside. I know the way they think.”* Luke 16:15

8 So Samuel asked Jesse to send the next son to him. His name was Abinadab. He came, and Samuel said, “No, God hasn’t picked this one.”

9 Then Jesse sent Shammah, and Samuel said, “No, God hasn’t picked this one either.”

10 Jesse sent all 7 of his sons one by one to stand in front of Samuel. But Samuel said to him, “God hasn’t picked any of these. 11 Do you have another son?”

Jesse answered, “Yes. There is my youngest son, David. But he is looking after the sheep out in the bush.”

Samuel said, “Send somebody to get him and bring him here. We will wait for him. We can’t sit down and eat the meat without him.”

12 So Jesse sent somebody to get David, and he brought him back. David was a good-looking young man, with a strong body and a nice face. God said to Samuel, “This is the one. Stand up now, and pour olive oil on his head. I picked him to be the next big boss.”

13 So Samuel got the bottle of olive oil, and he poured oil on David’s head, while his older brothers were watching. God’s spirit went into David in a powerful way and stayed in him from that day on. Then Samuel went back to his place at Ramah.

14 Then God’s spirit left Saul and did not go back to him. God sent a bad spirit that often made Saul frightened.

15 His workers said to him, “Boss. We can see that God has sent a bad spirit to make you frightened. 16 We will go and get somebody to come here and play the guitar for you. Whenever the bad spirit makes you frightened, he will play that guitar, and you will feel better then.”

17 Saul said to them, “Yes, go and look for somebody, a good guitar player. Bring him to me.”

18 One worker said, “I know an old man in Bethlehem called Jesse. One of his sons plays the guitar, and he’s a really good-looking young man. He’s a good soldier too. He’s brave, and he talks clearly. God is close to him.”

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “The big boss Saul wants you to send your son to him, that David, the one that looks after the sheep.”

20 So Jesse got a donkey, and he put lots of food on it. He also put some wine in leather bags on the donkey. He said to his son, “Go to the big boss’s place, and take this donkey and a little goat with you.”

21 From then on, David worked for Saul. He liked David very much, so he gave him another job. Whenever the Israel mob went to fight their enemies, David carried Saul’s spear and shield for him. 22 And Saul sent a messenger back to Jesse, to say like this, “Saul likes David very much. Let him stay and work for Saul.”

23 Lots of times God sent a bad spirit to make Saul angry. So David used to play his guitar to make him feel better. Then the bad spirit went away, and Saul felt better.