In some languages it will be necessary to know whether other people who were present could hear what the LORD said to Samuel here and in the following verses. It is not clear from the Hebrew whether they could. That Samuel has to tell Jesse in verse 10 that the LORD had not chosen any of the seven sons suggests that only Samuel heard what God said to him.

But: the common Hebrew conjunction is properly translated by the contrasting conjunction in English, since the LORD’s response is contrary to the thinking of Samuel.

A literal translation of the remainder of this verse reads “Don’t look on his appearance or the height of his standing, for I-have-rejected-him, for not which man sees for man looks to/with the eyes but Yahweh looks to the heart.” The Septuagint has an addition in the middle of this verse which reads as follows: “for not which man sees that God sees for man looks….” New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible follow the Septuagint. Revised Standard Version has added the words the LORD in the middle of the verse for reasons of English style. But if this is taken as a direct quotation of what Yahweh said, then in most languages it will be more natural to change the term—whether LORD or God—to “I” in this context.

Appearance: this English word occurs twice in this verse, and in the second case it is qualified as outward appearance in Revised Standard Version. This second occurrence is literally “with the eyes.” The word appearance seems to focus on physical attractiveness, which leads certain English translations to use the word “handsome.” The same term is used later in the description of David (17.42).

The height of his stature is somewhat redundant and may be reduced to “his height” or “how tall he is,” as in certain modern language versions.

The Hebrew word rendered man does not refer to males in opposition to females. Rather man (that is, human beings in general) here stands in contrast to deity. Revised English Bible says “The LORD does not see as a mortal sees.” New Jerusalem Bible says “as human beings see.”

Man looks on the outward appearance is literally “man looks with the eyes,” as noted above.

The heart: see the comments on 1.8.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .