1 Samuel 16:19 (DBY)

Passage

Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David thy son, who is with the sheep.

Nearby Context

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.

1 Samuel 16:19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David thy son, who is with the sheep.

1 Samuel 16:20 And Jesse took an ass with bread, and a flask of wine, and a kid, and sent [them] by David his son to Saul.

1 Samuel 16:21 And David came to Saul, and stood before him; and he loved him greatly; and he became his armour-bearer.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sheep", "saul", "sent", "messengers", "jesse", "said", "send", and "david". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sheep" and "saul", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 18's "And one of the young men answered..." into verse 20's "And Jesse took an ass with bread...", so "sheep" and "saul" 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 "sheep" and "saul" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.