Contemporary English Version begins this verse with the words “One day,” marking the beginning of a new episode in the ongoing story of Saul and Samuel.

The placement of the question mark in Revised Standard Version may be confusing. The question is only How long will you grieve over Saul? And in some cases this may be rendered as a statement, “You cannot go on grieving over Saul forever.”

I have rejected him is a decisive statement and not a part of the question. See 15.23 and 26 for the statement that God has rejected Saul.

Fill your horn with oil, and go: that is, go to anoint the new king. The same Hebrew word translated horn may refer to the horn of a live animal, but the term is also used for containers made from animal horns and used for holding liquids (the same term occurs in 1 Kgs 1.39). The oil was “olive oil” (see Exo 30.22-25), and this may be made explicit as Good News Translation has done.

I will send you: this is not an indefinite future notion. Rather it indicates that the LORD is in the process of sending Samuel to the home of Jesse. The future tense should therefore probably be avoided. New American Bible and Revised English Bible translate “I am sending you,” while Good News Translation simply uses the imperative “go.”

Jesse the Bethlehemite: Jesse was from the tribe of Judah, from the clan of Ephrathah according to 17.12. He lived in the city of Bethlehem. Ephrathah in the Old Testament refers both to the clan and to a city. The city is identified with Bethlehem in Micah 5.2 (see also Gen 35.19; 48.7). Probably Ephrathah had originally been a separate village but later became a part of the city of Bethlehem. See also Ruth 1.2. Here it is probably best to translate “Jesse from the town of Bethlehem” or “Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem” (New Century Version, Contemporary English Version).

I have provided: literally “I have seen.” This verb is used here, as also in 16.7; Gen 22.8; 41.33; and 2 Kgs 10.3, with the meaning “to choose” or “to select.”

For myself: although these words are omitted by Good News Translation, they may be important. The addition of these words may be taken to indicate that God has chosen the person he wanted as opposed to one whom the people wanted (so Gordon, page 150). This seems to be the implication of New American Bible, “I have chosen my king….”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .