So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.”
- KJV Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.
- NKJV Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”
- NASB So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “Send me your son David, who is with the flock.”
- NLT So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “Send me your son David, the shepherd.”
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
Saul sends messengers to Jesse requesting David, who is with the sheep. David is called from shepherding into the king's service.
Overview
Saul's summons draws David from the fields, again highlighting his humble role as a shepherd before his rise. The request fulfills the servant's recommendation and advances God's plan to bring David near the throne. The shepherd is being prepared to become the shepherd-king of Israel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Sam 17:15but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
- 1 Sam 16:11And Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied, “but he is tending the sheep.” “Send for him,” Samuel replied. “For we will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”
- Ps 78:70–72He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
- Matt 4:18–22As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
- Exod 3:1–10Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
- Amos 7:14–15“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.
- 1 Kgs 19:19So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.
- Ps 113:8to seat them with nobles, with the princes of His people.
- Amos 1:1These are the words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
- 1 Sam 17:33–34But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
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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 16:19 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.