Passage

1 Samuel 16.17

Book: 1 Samuel · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"15. And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. 16. Let our lord now command thy servants, that are before thee, to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the 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."

"17. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me."

"18. Then answered one of the young men, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is skilful in playing, and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent in speech, and a comely person; and Jehovah is with him. 19. Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, who is with the sheep." (1 Samuel 16:15-19, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"15. Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God troubles you. 16. Let our lord now command your servants who are in front of you to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. Then when the evil spirit from God is on you, he will play with his hand, and you will be well.”"

"17. Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.”"

"18. Then one of the young men answered, and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and Yahweh is with him.” 19. Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.”" (1 Samuel 16:15-19, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"15. And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. 16. Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an 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."

"17. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me."

"18. Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him. ^{matters: or, speech} 19. Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep." (1 Samuel 16:15-19, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"15. and the servants of Saul say unto him, 'Lo, we pray thee, a spirit of sadness [from] God is terrifying thee; 16. let our lord command, we pray thee, thy servants before thee, they seek a skilful man, playing on a harp, and it hath come to pass, in the spirit of sadness [from] God being upon thee, that he hath played with his hand, and [it is] well with thee.'"

"17. And Saul saith unto his servants, 'Provide, I pray you, for me a man playing well, then ye have brought [him] in unto me.'"

"18. And one of the servants answereth and saith, 'Lo, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-Lehemite, skilful in playing, and a mighty virtuous man, and a man of battle, and intelligent in word, and a man of form, and Jehovah [is] with him.' 19. And Saul sendeth messengers unto Jesse, and saith, 'Send unto me David thy son, who [is] with the flock.'" (1 Samuel 16:15-19, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Zeitgeist - Astrotheological Claims

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.