1 Samuel 17

¹Now the Philistines gathered their forces for battle, and they assembled at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, at Ephes-dammim.

²And Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, and they drew up in battle formation against the Philistines.

³And the Philistines were standing on the hill on one side, and Israel was standing on the hill on the other side, with the valley between them.

⁴Then a champion went out from the camps of the Philistines — Goliath by name, from Gath; his height was six cubits and a span.

⁵And a helmet of bronze was on his head, and he was clothed in a coat of scale armor, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.

⁶and he had bronze greaves on his legs, and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders.

⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the iron head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and a man bearing the large shield walked before him.

⁸And he stood and called to the battle lines of Israel and said to them, 'Why do you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you servants of Saul? Choose for yourselves a man, and let him come down to me.'

⁹If he is able to fight with me and strikes me down, then we will be servants to you; but if I prevail against him and strike him down, then you will be servants to us and will serve us.

¹⁰And the Philistine said, 'I have defied the ranks of Israel today. Give me a man, and let us fight together.'

¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

¹²Now David was the son of an Ephrathite man of Bethlehem of Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons; and the man in the days of Saul was old and advanced among men.

¹³The three eldest sons of Jesse had gone and followed Saul into battle — and the names of his three sons who went into battle were Eliab the firstborn, Abinadab the second after him, and the third Shammah.

¹⁴And David was the youngest; and the three oldest had gone after Saul.

¹⁵But David would go back and forth from Saul to tend his father's flock at Bethlehem.

¹⁶And the Philistine drew near morning and evening and took his stand for forty days.

¹⁷And Jesse said to David his son, 'Take now for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves of bread, and run quickly to the camp to your brothers.'

¹⁸And these ten cuts of cheese you shall bring to the officer of the thousand, and you shall visit your brothers to see how they are, and you shall take their token.

¹⁹Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.

²⁰So David rose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper, and taking the supplies, he went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment just as the army was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry.

²¹And Israel and the Philistines drew up battle line opposite battle line.

²²And David left his gear with the keeper of the baggage and ran to the battle line, and he came and asked his brothers about their welfare.

²³And while he was speaking with them, look, the champion was coming up, Goliath the Philistine by name, from Gath, from the battle lines of the Philistines, and he spoke according to these words; and David heard.

²⁴And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from before him and were greatly afraid.

²⁵And the men of Israel said, 'Have you seen this man who is coming up? For he comes up to defy Israel. And it shall be that the man who strikes him — the king will enrich him with great riches, will give him his daughter, and will make his father's house free in Israel.'

²⁶And David spoke to the men who were standing with him, saying, 'What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and removes the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he has defied the battle lines of the living God?'

²⁷And the men told him according to this word, saying, 'Thus shall it be done for the man who strikes him.'

²⁸And Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger burned against David, and he said, 'Why did you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and the wickedness of your heart, for it was to see the battle that you came down.'

²⁹And David said, 'What have I done now? Is it not just a word?'

³⁰And he turned away from him toward another and spoke according to this same word, and the men answered him as before, according to the first word.

³¹And the words that David spoke were heard, and they were reported before Saul, and he sent for him.

³²And David said to Saul, 'Let no man's heart fail on his account; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.'

³³And Saul said to David, 'You are not able to go to this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth and he is a man of war from his youth.'

³⁴And David said to Saul, 'Your servant was tending his father's flock, and the lion came and the bear, and took a sheep from the flock.'

³⁵And I went out after it and struck it and rescued the lamb from its mouth; and if it rose against me, I would seize it by its beard and strike it and kill it.

³⁶Both the lion and the bear your servant has struck down; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the ranks of the living God.

³⁷And David said, 'The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear — he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.' And Saul said to David, 'Go, and the Lord be with you.'

³⁸And Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹And David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested it. And David said to Saul, 'I cannot walk in these, for I have not tested them.' And David removed them from himself.

⁴⁰And he took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in the shepherd's pouch that he had, in his bag; and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.

⁴¹And the Philistine came on, advancing and drawing near to David, with the man bearing the large shield going before him.

⁴²And the Philistine looked and saw David, and despised him, for he was a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance.

⁴³And the Philistine said to David, 'Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?' And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴And the Philistine said to David, 'Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the field.'

⁴⁵And David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the battle-ranks of Israel, whom you have defied.'

⁴⁶This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you, and I will give the corpses of the camp of the Philistines this day to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

⁴⁷And all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.

⁴⁸And it came to pass that when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David hurried and ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

⁴⁹And David reached his hand into the bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the ground.

⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; and there was no sword in David's hand.

⁵¹And David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it from its sheath and finished him off, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

⁵²And the men of Israel and Judah rose up and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and as far as the gates of Ekron; and the slain of the Philistines fell on the road to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and as far as Ekron.

⁵³And the men of Israel returned from pursuing after the Philistines and plundered their camps.

⁵⁴And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; and he put his weapons in his tent.

⁵⁵And when Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, 'Whose son is this youth, Abner?' And Abner said, 'As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.'

⁵⁶And the king said, 'Inquire yourself whose son this young man is.'

⁵⁷And when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, and the head of the Philistine was in his hand.

⁵⁸And Saul said to him, 'Whose son are you, young man?' And David said, 'I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.'