1 Samuel 16:16 (DBY)

Passage

Let our lord now speak; thy servants are before thee: they shall seek out a man, a skilful player on a harp; and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 16:14 And the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him.

1 Samuel 16:15 And Saul's servants said to him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubles thee.

1 Samuel 16:16 Let our lord now speak; thy servants are before thee: they shall seek out a man, a skilful player on a harp; and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.

1 Samuel 16:17 And Saul said to his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.

1 Samuel 16:18 And one of the young men answered and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skilled in playing, and he is a valiant man and a man of war, and skilled in speech, and of good presence, and Jehovah is with him.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "Spirit", "lord", "speak", "servants", "before", "thee", "shall", and "seek". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "Spirit" and "lord", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "And Saul's servants said to him Behold..." into verse 17's "And Saul said to his servants Provide...", so "Spirit" and "lord" belong inside that flow. In 1 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "Spirit" and "lord" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.