1 Samuel 16:19

19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”

1 Samuel 16:19 in Other Translations

19 Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.

19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son, who is with the sheep."

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “Send me your son David, the shepherd.”

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse requesting, "Send your son David to me, the one who tends the sheep."

19 Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, who is with the sheep.

19 Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep."

19 Then Saul dispatched messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep."

19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse. He said, "Send me your son David, the one who takes care of your sheep."

1 Samuel 16:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 16:19

Wherefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse
For David; not choosing to take him without his leave, though Samuel suggests that kings would do so, ( 1 Samuel 8:11 )

and said, send me David, thy son, which is with the sheep;
he had learnt his name, and what was his employment; and which last he mentions not by way of contempt, it not being reckoned mean and despicable even in the sons of great personages, in those times and countries, to attend flocks and herds: so with the Arabs, as Philo ^F14 testifies, young men and maids of the most illustrious families fed cattle; and with the ancient Romans, the senator ^F15 fed his own sheep. Paris, son of Priamus, king of Troy, is said ^F16 to feed his father's oxen and sheep; and Saul himself had done the same; but to describe him particularly.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 610.
F15 "Pascebatque suas" Ovid. Fast. l. 1.
F16 Coluthi Raptus Helenae, v. 71, 101.

1 Samuel 16:19 In-Context

17 So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.”

18 One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him.”

19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”

20 So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.

21 David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 17:15