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1 Samuel 16:10
ESV And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen these."
NIV Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The Lord has not chosen these."
NASB So Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, 'The Lord has not chosen these.'
CSB After Jesse presented seven of his sons to him, Samuel told Jesse, "The Lord hasn’t chosen any of these."
NLT In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, 'The Lord has not chosen any of these.'
KJV Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these.
NKJV Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”

What does 1 Samuel 16:10 mean?

After God rejected Saul as king (1 Samuel 15:22–29, 35), he told Samuel to stop grieving and anoint a replacement (1 Samuel 16:1). That new king would be one of Jesse the Bethlehemite's sons. Samuel is now in Bethlehem to anoint this son and to offer a sacrifice to the Lord (1 Sameul 16:2, 5). But the prophet does not know which son God has chosen (1 Samuel 16:3).

The sons are progressively presented to Jesse, and progressively rejected (1 Samuel 16:6–9). This happens seven times. Samuel tells Jesse that none of these sons are the one. We find out in the next verse that only seven of Jesse's eight sons were present at the time (1 Samuel 16:11). It must have been shocking to apparently come to the end of the sons and have each of them rejected.

Commentators point out that in the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 2, David is said to be the seventh son of Jesse (1 Chronicles 2:15). Scholars speculate that perhaps one of the other sons died without having children and was left out of the genealogy. First Samuel 17:12 confirms Jesse had eight sons. In 1 Samuel 16:11 David is said to be the "youngest" or the "smallest."
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