1 Samuel 16-18

GOD’S WORD Translation

David Chosen to Be King

16 The Lord asked Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul now that I have rejected him as king of Israel? Fill a flask with olive oil and go. I’m sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem because I’ve selected one of his sons to be king.”

² “How can I go?” Samuel asked. “When Saul hears about it, he’ll kill me.”

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice. I will reveal to you what you should do, and you will anoint for me the one I point out to you.”

⁴ Samuel did what the Lord told him. When he came to Bethlehem, the leaders of the city, trembling with fear, greeted him and said, “May peace be with you.”

⁵ “Greetings,” he replied, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Perform the ceremonies to make yourselves holy, and come with me to the sacrifice.” He performed the ceremonies for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. ⁶ When they came, he saw Eliab and thought, “Certainly, here in the Lord’s presence is his anointed king.”

⁷ But the Lord told Samuel, “Don’t look at his appearance or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. God does not see as humans see.^[a] Humans look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks into the heart.”

⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and brought him to Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”

⁹ Then Jesse had Shammah come to Samuel. “The Lord has not chosen this one either,” Samuel said. ¹⁰ So Jesse brought seven ⌞more⌟ of his sons to Samuel, but Samuel told Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen ⌞any of⌟ these. ¹¹ Are these all the sons you have?”

“There’s still the youngest one,” Jesse answered. “He’s tending the sheep.”

Samuel told Jesse, “Send someone to get him. We won’t continue until he gets here.”

¹² So Jesse sent for him. He had a healthy complexion, attractive eyes, and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go ahead, anoint him. He is the one.” ¹³ Samuel took the flask of olive oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers. The Lord’s Spirit came over David and stayed with him from that day on. Then Samuel left for Ramah.

David Plays the Lyre for Saul

¹⁴ Now, the Lord’s Spirit had left Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. ¹⁵ Saul’s officials told him, “An evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Your Majesty, why don’t you command us to look for a man who can play the lyre well? When the evil spirit from God comes to you, he’ll strum a tune, and you’ll feel better.”

¹⁷ Saul told his officials, “Please find me a man who can play well and bring him to me.”

¹⁸ One of the officials said, “I know one of Jesse’s sons from Bethlehem who can play well. He’s a courageous man and a warrior. He has a way with words, he is handsome, and the Lord is with him.”

¹⁹ Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”

²⁰ Jesse took six bushels of bread, a full wineskin, and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul. ²¹ David came to Saul and served him. Saul loved him very much and made David his armorbearer. ²² Saul sent ⌞this message⌟ to Jesse, “Please let David stay with me because I have grown fond of him.”

²³ Whenever God’s spirit came to Saul, David took the lyre and strummed a tune. Saul got relief ⌞from his terror⌟ and felt better, and the evil spirit left him.

David and Goliath

17 The Philistines assembled their armies for war. They assembled at Socoh, which is in Judah, and camped between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. ² So Saul and the army of Israel assembled and camped in the Elah Valley. They formed a battle line to fight the Philistines. ³ The Philistines were stationed on a hill on one side, and the Israelites were stationed on a hill on the other side. There was a ravine between the two of them.

⁴ The Philistine army’s champion came out of their camp. His name was Goliath from Gath. He was ten feet tall.^{[b] 5} He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore a bronze coat of armor scales weighing 125 pounds. ⁶ On his legs he had bronze shin guards and on his back a bronze javelin. ⁷ The shaft of his spear was like the beam used by weavers. The head of his spear was made of 15 pounds of iron. The man who carried his shield walked ahead of him.

⁸ Goliath stood and called to the Israelites, “Why do you form a battle line? Am I not a Philistine, and aren’t you Saul’s servants? Choose a man, and let him come down to ⌞fight⌟ me. ⁹ If he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your slaves. But if I overpower him and kill him, then you will be our slaves and serve us.” ¹⁰ The Philistine added, “I challenge the Israelite battle line today. Send out a man so that we can fight each other.” ¹¹ When Saul and all the Israelites heard what this Philistine said, they were gripped with fear.

¹² David was a son of a man named Jesse from the region of Ephrath and the city of Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s day he was an old man.^{[c] 13} Jesse’s three oldest sons joined Saul’s army for the battle. The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, the third was Shammah, ¹⁴ and David was the youngest. The three oldest joined Saul’s army. ¹⁵ David went back and forth from Saul’s camp to Bethlehem, where he tended his father’s flock.

¹⁶ Each morning and evening for 40 days, the Philistine came forward and made his challenge.

¹⁷ Jesse told his son David, “Take this half-bushel of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers. Take them to your brothers in the camp right away. ¹⁸ And take these ten cheeses to the captain of the regiment. See how your brothers are doing, and bring back some news about them. ¹⁹ They, along with Saul and all the soldiers of Israel, are in the Elah Valley fighting the Philistines.”

²⁰ David got up early in the morning and had someone else watch ⌞the sheep⌟. He took ⌞the food⌟ and went, as Jesse ordered him. He went to the camp as the army was going out to the battle line shouting their war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines formed their battle lines facing each other. ²² David left the supplies behind in the hands of the quartermaster, ran to the battle line, and greeted his brothers. ²³ While he was talking to them, the Philistine champion, Goliath from Gath, came from the battle lines of the Philistines. He repeated his words, and David heard them. ²⁴ When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him because they were terrified. ²⁵ The men of Israel said, “Did you see that man coming ⌞from the Philistine lines⌟? He keeps coming to challenge Israel. The king will make the man who kills this Philistine very rich. He will give his daughter to that man to marry and elevate the social status of his family.”

²⁶ David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and gets rid of Israel’s disgrace? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should challenge the army of the living God?”

²⁷ The soldiers repeated ⌞to David⌟ how the man who kills Goliath would be treated.

²⁸ Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard David talking to the men. Then Eliab became angry with David. “Why did you come here,” he asked him, “and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how overconfident and headstrong you are. You came here just to see the battle.”

²⁹ “What have I done now?” David snapped at him. “Didn’t I ⌞merely⌟ ask a question?” ³⁰ He turned to face another man and asked the same question, and the other soldiers gave him the same answer.

³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, who then sent for him. ³² David told Saul, “No one should be discouraged because of this. I will go and fight this Philistine.”

³³ Saul responded to David, “You can’t fight this Philistine. You’re just a boy, but he’s been a warrior since he was your age.”

³⁴ David replied to Saul, “I am a shepherd for my father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. If it attacked me, I took hold of its mane, struck it, and killed it. ³⁶ I have killed lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has challenged the army of the living God.” ³⁷ David added, “The Lord, who saved me from the lion and the bear, will save me from this Philistine.”

“Go,” Saul told David, “and may the Lord be with you.”

³⁸ Saul put his battle tunic on David; he put a bronze helmet on David’s head and dressed him in armor. ³⁹ David fastened Saul’s sword over his clothes and tried to walk, but he had never practiced doing this. “I can’t walk in these things,” David told Saul. “I’ve never had any practice doing this.” So David took all those things off.

⁴⁰ He took his stick with him, picked out five smooth stones from the riverbed, and put them in his shepherd’s bag. With a sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. ⁴¹ The Philistine, preceded by the man carrying his shield, was coming closer and closer to David. ⁴² When the Philistine got a good look at David, he despised him. After all, David was a young man with a healthy complexion and good looks.

⁴³ The Philistine asked David, “Am I a dog that you come to ⌞attack⌟ me with sticks?” So the Philistine called on his gods to curse David. ⁴⁴ “Come on,” the Philistine told David, “and I’ll give your body to the birds.”

⁴⁵ David told the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have insulted. ⁴⁶ Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. And this day I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals. The whole world will know that Israel has a God. ⁴⁷ Then everyone gathered here will know that the Lord can save without sword or spear, because the Lord determines every battle’s outcome. He will hand all of you over to us.”

⁴⁸ When the Philistine moved closer in order to attack, David quickly ran toward the opposing battle line to attack the Philistine. ⁴⁹ Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, hurled it from his sling, and struck the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank into Goliath’s forehead, and he fell to the ground on his face. ⁵⁰ So using ⌞only⌟ a sling and a stone, David proved to be stronger than the Philistine. David struck down and killed the Philistine, even though David didn’t have a sword in his hand. ⁵¹ David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took Goliath’s sword, pulled it out of its sheath, and made certain the Philistine was dead by cutting off his head.

When the Philistines saw their hero had been killed, they fled. ⁵² Then the soldiers of Israel and Judah rose up, shouted a battle cry, and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Wounded Philistines lay on the road to Shaaraim and all the way to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites came back from their pursuit of the Philistines, they looted all the goods in the Philistine camp. ⁵⁴ David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath’s armor in his tent.

⁵⁵ As Saul watched David going out against the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?”

Abner answered, “I solemnly swear, as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

⁵⁷ When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner brought him to Saul. David had the Philistine’s head in his hand.

⁵⁸ Saul asked him, “Whose son are you, young man?”

“The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered.

David’s Love for Jonathan

18 David finished talking to Saul. After that, Jonathan became David’s closest friend. He loved David as much as ⌞he loved⌟ himself. ² (From that day on Saul kept David ⌞as his servant⌟ and didn’t let him go back to his family.) ³ So Jonathan made a pledge of mutual loyalty with David because he loved him as much as ⌞he loved⌟ himself. ⁴ Jonathan took off the coat he had on and gave it to David along with his battle tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

⁵ David was successful wherever Saul sent him. Saul put him in charge of the fighting men. This pleased all the people, including Saul’s officials.

David’s Success Makes Saul Jealous

⁶ As they arrived, David was returning from a campaign against the Philistines. Women from all of Israel’s cities came to meet King Saul. They sang and danced, accompanied by tambourines, joyful music, and triangles. ⁷ The women who were celebrating sang,

⁸ Saul became very angry because he considered this saying to be insulting. “To David they credit tens of thousands,” he said, “but to me they credit ⌞only⌟ a few thousand. The only thing left for David is my kingdom.” ⁹ From that day on Saul kept an eye on David.

¹⁰ The next day an evil spirit from God seized Saul. He began to prophesy in his house while David strummed a tune on the lyre as he did every day. Now, Saul had a spear in his hand. ¹¹ He raised the spear and thought, “I’ll nail David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.

¹² Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. ¹³ So he kept David away. He made David captain of a regiment. David led the troops out ⌞to battle⌟ and back again. ¹⁴ He was successful in everything he undertook because the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ Saul noticed how very successful he was and became ⌞even more⌟ afraid of him. ¹⁶ Everyone in Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in and out ⌞of battle⌟.

¹⁷ Finally, Saul said to David, “Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I will give her to you as your wife if you prove yourself to be a warrior for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” (Saul thought, “I must not lay a hand on him. Let the Philistines do that.”)

¹⁸ “Who am I?” David asked Saul. “And how important are my relatives or my father’s family in Israel that I should be the king’s son-in-law?”

¹⁹ But when the time came to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was married to Adriel from Meholah. ²⁰ However, Saul’s daughter Michal fell in love with David. When Saul was told about it, the news pleased him. ²¹ Saul thought, “I’ll give her to David. She will trap him, and the Philistines will get him.” So he said to David a second time, “You will now be my son-in-law.”

²² Saul ordered his officers, “Talk to David in private. Tell him, ‘The king likes you, and all his officers are fond of you. Become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”

²³ When Saul’s officers made it a point to say this, David asked, “Do you think it’s easy to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor and unimportant person.”

²⁴ When the officers told Saul what David had said, ²⁵ Saul replied, “Tell David, ‘The king doesn’t want any payment for the bride except 100 Philistine foreskins so that he can get revenge on his enemies.’ ” In this way Saul planned to have David fall into the hands of the Philistines. ²⁶ When his officers told David this, David concluded that it was acceptable to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the time was up, ²⁷ David and his men went out and struck down 200 Philistines. David brought the foreskins, and they counted them out for the king so that David could become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal as his wife. ²⁸ Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David. ²⁹ Then Saul was even more afraid of David, and so Saul became David’s constant enemy.

³⁰ The Philistine generals still went out ⌞to fight Israel⌟. But whenever they went out ⌞to fight⌟, David was more successful than the rest of Saul’s officers. So David gained a good reputation.