1 Samuel 16:2 (YLT)

Passage

And Samuel saith, `How do I go? when Saul hath heard, then he hath slain me.' And Jehovah saith, `A heifer of the herd thou dost take in thy hand, and hast said, To sacrifice to Jehovah I have come;

Nearby Context

1 Samuel 16:1 And Jehovah saith unto Samuel, `Till when art thou mourning for Saul, and I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and go, I send thee unto Jesse the Beth-Lehemite, for I have seen among his sons for Myself a king.

1 Samuel 16:2 And Samuel saith, `How do I go? when Saul hath heard, then he hath slain me.' And Jehovah saith, `A heifer of the herd thou dost take in thy hand, and hast said, To sacrifice to Jehovah I have come;

1 Samuel 16:3 and thou hast called for Jesse in the sacrifice, and I cause thee to know that which thou dost do, and thou hast anointed to Me him of whom I speak unto thee.'

1 Samuel 16:4 And Samuel doth that which Jehovah hath spoken, and cometh in to Beth-Lehem, and the elders of the city tremble to meet him, and <FI>one<Fi> saith, `Is thy coming peace?'

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "samuel", "saith", "saul", "hath", "heard", "slain", and "jehovah". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "samuel" and "saith", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "And Jehovah saith unto Samuel Till when..." into verse 3's "and thou hast called for Jesse in...", so "samuel" and "saith" 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 "saith" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.