The LORD told Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I've rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I'm sending you to Jesse from Bethlehem because I've chosen for myself one of his sons as king."

Samuel did what the LORD said and went to Bethlehem. The elders of the town came out to meet him trembling, and said, "May your coming be in peace."

David was the son of that Ephrathite man named Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah. He had eight sons; at the time when Saul was king he was old, having lived to an advanced age.

And David would go back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep in Bethlehem.

Saul told him, "Whose son are you, young man?" David said, "The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem."

If your father actually notices that I'm not there, then you are to say, "David urgently requested that I allow him to run to his hometown of Bethlehem because the yearly sacrifice for the entire family was taking place there.'

Jonathan answered Saul, "David urgently requested that I let him go to Bethlehem.