1 Samuel 17:32-51

New American Standard Bible

³² And David said to Saul, “^(A)May no one’s heart fail on account of him; ^(B)your servant will go and fight this Philistine!” ³³ But Saul said to David, “^(C)You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him; for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior since his youth.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went out after it and ^[a]attacked it, and ^(D)rescued the sheep from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I grabbed it by its mane and struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has ^[b]killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ And David said, “^(E)The Lord who saved me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “^(F)Go, and may the Lord be with you.” ³⁸ Then Saul clothed David with his military attire and put a bronze helmet on his head, and outfitted him with armor. ³⁹ And David strapped on his sword over his military attire and struggled at walking, for he had not trained with the armor. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, because I have not trained with them.” And David took them ^[c]off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, that is, in his shepherd’s pouch, and ^(G)his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ Then the Philistine came and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, ^(H)he was contemptuous of him; for he was only a youth, and ^[d](I)reddish, with a handsome appearance. ⁴³ So the Philistine said to David, “^(J)Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And ^(K)the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh ^(L)to the birds of the sky and the ^[e]wild animals.” ⁴⁵ But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a ^[f]saber, ^(M)but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. Then I will give the ^(N)dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, ^(O)so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that this entire assembly may know that ^(P)the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; ^(Q)for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will hand you over to us!”

⁴⁸ Then it happened, when the Philistine ^[g]came closer to meet David, that ^(R)David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and the stone: he struck the Philistine and killed him, and there was no sword in David’s hand. ⁵¹ Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and ^(S)took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and finished him, and cut off his head with it. ^(T)When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.