Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen these.”
- BSB Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel told him, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.”
- NKJV Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
- NASB So Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
- NLT In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Seven of Jesse's sons pass before Samuel, and God has chosen none of them. The expected candidates are all rejected.
Overview
With seven sons declined, every obvious choice is exhausted, signaling that God's king is not among those Jesse thought to present. The number seven suggests completeness, making the absence of the chosen one striking. This sets up the revelation that the future king has been left out in the fields.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- 1 Chr 2:13–15And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third,
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 16:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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