1 Samuel 16:4 (DRB)

Passage

Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to Bethlehem, and the ancients of the city wondered, and meeting him, they said: Is thy coming hither peaceable?

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 16:2 And Samuel said: How shall I go? for Saul will hear of it, and he will kill me. And the Lord said: Thou shalt take with thee a calf of the herd, and thou shalt say: I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.

1 Samuel 16:3 And thou shalt call Isai to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou art to do, and thou shalt anoint him whom I shall shew to thee.

1 Samuel 16:4 Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to Bethlehem, and the ancients of the city wondered, and meeting him, they said: Is thy coming hither peaceable?

1 Samuel 16:5 And he said: It is peaceable: I am come to offer sacrifice to the Lord, be ye sanctified, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Isai and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

1 Samuel 16:6 And when they were come in, he saw Eliab, and said: Is the Lord's anointed before him?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "samuel", "lord", "said", "came", "bethlehem", "ancients", "city", and "wondered". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "samuel" and "lord", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "And thou shalt call Isai to the..." into verse 5's "And he said It is peaceable I...", so "samuel" 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 "samuel" and "lord" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.