1 Samuel 17
Modern English Version
David and Goliath
17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and were gathered at Sokoh, which belongs to Judah. And they camped between Sokoh and Azekah in Ephes Dammim. 2 Saul and Israel’s fighting men were gathered, and they camped in the Valley of Elah. And they drew up in battle order to meet the Philistines. 3 Now the Philistines were standing at the base of the mountain on the one side, and Israel was standing at the base of the mountain on the other side, and the valley was between them.
4 There went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, Goliath was his name, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.[a] 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail. Now the weight of the bronze coat was five thousand shekels.[b] 6 He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam. His iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels.[c] And a shield-bearer was walking before him.
8 He stood and called out to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am not I the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose for yourselves a man and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and to strike me down, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, then you will be our servants and will serve us.” 10 The Philistine said, “I defy the battle lines of Israel this day. Give me a man, and let us fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were filled with terror and were greatly afraid.
12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse, who had eight sons. And the man was old in the days of Saul and advanced in years. 13 The three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. 14 As for David, he was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, 15 but David would go back and forth from Saul to shepherd his father’s flock in Bethlehem.
16 The Philistine stepped forward morning and evening and took his stand daily for forty days.
17 Then Jesse said to David his son, “Take now for your brothers an ephah[d] of this parched grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to your brothers. 18 Carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and look into your brothers’ health, and bring back news of them.” 19 Now Saul, and they, and all Israel’s fighting men were in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.
20 So David rose up early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper. And he carried away the food and went as Jesse had commanded him. And when he came to the encampment, the army was going out to the battle line, and they shouted a war cry. 21 And Israel and the Philistines ordered themselves in battle lines, army against army. 22 David left his things with the keeper of the equipment, and he ran to the battle line. And he went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he was speaking with them, the champion, Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was going up from the battle line of the Philistines. And he spoke these same words and David heard them. 24 When all Israel’s fighting men saw the man, they fled from him, and were very afraid.
25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel, and it will be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, will give him his daughter, and will make his father’s house exempt from taxes in Israel.”
26 David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying, “What will be done for the man that kills this Philistine and takes away this reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27 And the people answered him in the same way, saying, “So will it be done to the man who kills him.”
28 Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the evil of your heart. For you have come down that you might see the battle.”
29 David said, “What have I done now? Was it not only a word?” 30 And he turned from him toward another and spoke in the same way. And the people answered him again as at the first. 31 When the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul and he sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33 Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. For you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
34 David said to Saul, “Your servant was a shepherd for my father’s flock, and the lion came and the bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. 35 And I went out after him, and struck him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I took hold of his beard, struck him, and killed him. 36 Your servant slew both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine will be as one of them, because he has reviled the armies of the living God.” 37 David said, “The Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
38 Saul clothed David with his armor. And he put a helmet of bronze on his head. He also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David secured his sword to his armor and tried to walk, but he was not used to it, for he had not tested them.
And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. 40 He took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook. And he put them in his shepherd’s bag, even in a pouch. And his sling was in his hand. Then he drew near to the Philistine.
41 The Philistine came walking and drew near to David, and the man bearing the shield went before him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him. For he was a youth and ruddy with a handsome appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 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.”
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have reviled. 46 This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand. And I will strike you down and cut off your head. Then I will give the corpses of the Philistine camp this day to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 And then all this assembly will know that it is not by sword and spear that the Lord saves. For the battle belongs to the Lord, and He will give you into our hands.”
48 When the Philistine arose and came near to meet David, David hurried and ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag and took from there a stone. And he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead. Therefore the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the ground.
50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone. And he struck down the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David.
51 Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine. Then he took his sword and drew it from out of its sheath, and he finished him off and he cut off his head with it.
When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. 52 And the fighting men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted. And they pursued the Philistines from the entrance of the Valley of Elah as far as the gates of Ekron. So the Philistine dead lay slain on the road to Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53 Then the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines and they plundered their tents.
54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
55 When Saul saw David going out against 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.”
56 The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is.”
57 So when David returned from slaying the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand.
58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
And David answered, “I am the son of your servant, Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 17:4 About 9 feet 9 inches, or 3 meters.
- 1 Samuel 17:5 About 125 pounds, or 58 kilograms.
- 1 Samuel 17:7 About 15 pounds, or 6.9 kilograms.
- 1 Samuel 17:17 Likely about 36 pounds, or 16 kilograms.
1 Samuel 17
Lexham English Bible
The Philistine Champion Taunts Israel
17 The Philistines gathered their camps[a] for battle and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah. They camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes Dammim. 2 Then Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and they formed ranks for the battle to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines were standing on the hill on one side and the army of Israel was standing on the hill on the other side with the valley between them. 4 Then a champion[b] went out from the camps of the Philistines, whose name was Goliath from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span.[c] 5 A bronze helmet was on his head, and he was clothed with scale body armor; the weight of the body armor was five thousand bronze shekels. 6 Bronze greaves[d] were on his legs,[e] and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam and the point of his spear weighed six hundred iron shekels. His shield bearer[f] was walking in front of him.
8 He stood and called to the battle lines of Israel and said to them, “Why have you come out to form ranks for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Commission for yourselves a man and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and he defeats me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail over him and defeat him, then you will be our servants and you will serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “I hereby defy the battle lines of Israel today! Give me a man so that we may fight each other!” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very afraid.
David Enters the Scene of Battle
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite. This man was from Bethlehem of Judah, and his name was Jesse. He had[g] eight sons; in the days of Saul this man was old, yet he still walked among[h] the men. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone and followed[i] Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, his second oldest was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. 14 Now David was the youngest. The three oldest followed[j] Saul, 15 but David went back and forth[k] from Saul to feed the sheep of his father in Bethlehem. 16 Now the Philistine came forward early and late, and he took his stand for forty days.
17 Then Jesse said to his son David, “Please take for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and bring them quickly to the camp for your brothers. 18 And these ten portions of cheese you will bring to the commander of the thousand; find out how your brothers are doing,[l] and take their pledge.”[m] 19 Now Saul and they[n] and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting the Philistines.
20 David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and he took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment while the troops were going to the battle line, and they raised the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle lines, one battle line against the other.[o] 22 David left the baggage he had with him in the care[p] of the baggage keeper, ran to the battle line, and came and asked how his brothers were doing.[q] 23 While he was speaking to them, the champion,[r] whose name was Goliath the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the caves[s] of the Philistines. He spoke just as he had previously,[t] and David heard his words. 24 When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from his presence and were very afraid. 25 And the men of Israel said, “Did you see this man who has come up? For he is going up to defy Israel! It will be that the man who defeats him, the king will make him[u] very rich with great wealth and will give him his daughter in marriage and will make his father’s house free in Israel.”[v] 26 Now David had spoken to the men who were standing with him, saying, “What will be done for the man who defeats this Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he defies the battle lines of the living God?” 27 And the troops had spoken to him according to this word, saying, “So it will be done for the man who defeats[w] him.”
28 His oldest brother Eliab heard while he was speaking to the men, and Eliab became very angry against David[x] and said, “Why have you come down today, and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumptuousness and the evil of your heart! For you have come down in order to see the battle!” 29 David replied, “What have I done now? I merely asked a question![y] 30 He turned around from him to another opposite him and he spoke to him in the same way,[z] and the people[aa] answered him as before.[ab]
David Appears before Saul
31 Now the words which David had spoken were heard and they reported them to[ac] Saul, and he summoned him. 32 David said to Saul, “Do not let anyone’s heart fail concerning him! Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 But Saul said to David, “You will not be able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are only a boy, whereas he has been a man of war since his childhood!” 34 And David said to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group, 35 I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab it by its beard and strike it down and kill it. 36 Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God.”
37 And David said, “Yahweh, who rescued me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “Go and may Yahweh be with you!” 38 Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with body armor. 39 Then David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire, but he tried in vain to walk around, for he was not trained to use them. So David said to Saul, “I am not able to walk with these, because I am not trained to use them.” So David removed them. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi,[ad] and he put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
41 Then the Philistine came on, getting nearer and nearer[ae] to David, with his shield bearer[af] in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was only a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance. 43 So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you are coming to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!” 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You are coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied! 46 This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head![ag] Then I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God who is for Israel. 47 And all of this assembly will know that Yahweh does not rescue with sword or with spear, for the battle belongs to Yahweh, and he will give you into our hands!”
David Defeats Goliath
48 When[ah] the Philistine got up and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly[ai] to the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David put his hand into the bag and took a stone from it and slung it. He struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David’s hand.
51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it from its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52 The men of Israel and Judah got up, raised the war cry, and pursued the Philistines as far as[aj] the valley[ak] and up to the gates of Ekron. So the slain of the Philistines fell on the way[al] to Shaaraim up to Gath and as far as Ekron. 53 Then the Israelites[am] returned from pursuing the Philistines and plundered their camp. 54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem and placed his weapons in his tent.
55 Now when Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” 56 Then the king said, “You inquire whose son this young man is.” 57 So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. The head of the Philistine was in his hand. 58 Then Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 17:1 Or “armies”
- 1 Samuel 17:4 Literally “a man of the space between”
- 1 Samuel 17:4 A cubit was about eighteen inches and a span about nine inches, so the Masoretic Hebrew text gives the height of nine feet, nine inches. Ancient Greek versions variously give Goliath’s height as four, five, or sixteen cubits.
- 1 Samuel 17:6 Or “shin guards”
- 1 Samuel 17:6 Hebrew “feet”
- 1 Samuel 17:7 Literally “The one who carried his shield”
- 1 Samuel 17:12 Literally “And for him were”
- 1 Samuel 17:12 The LXX reads “he went in years”; that is, he was advanced in years
- 1 Samuel 17:13 Literally “went after”
- 1 Samuel 17:14 Literally “went after”
- 1 Samuel 17:15 Literally “was going and was returning”
- 1 Samuel 17:18 Literally “make a careful inspection as far as peace concerning your brothers”
- 1 Samuel 17:18 That is, some pledge or token of assurance that they had received the goods
- 1 Samuel 17:19 That is, David’s brothers
- 1 Samuel 17:21 Literally “battle line to oppose battle line”
- 1 Samuel 17:22 Literally “hand”
- 1 Samuel 17:22 Literally “asked his brothers as far as peace”
- 1 Samuel 17:23 Literally “the man of the space between”
- 1 Samuel 17:23 So the Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib); the reading tradition (Qere) and LXX have “ranks”
- 1 Samuel 17:23 Literally “according to these words”
- 1 Samuel 17:25 That is, the man who defeats Goliath
- 1 Samuel 17:25 That is, free from taxation
- 1 Samuel 17:27 Or “kills”
- 1 Samuel 17:28 Literally “and the nose of Eliab became hot concerning David”
- 1 Samuel 17:29 Literally “Is this not a word?”
- 1 Samuel 17:30 Literally “and he said according to this word”
- 1 Samuel 17:30 Or “troops”
- 1 Samuel 17:30 Literally “returned to him a word as the first word”
- 1 Samuel 17:31 Literally “before the face/in the presence of”
- 1 Samuel 17:40 A valley that is usually dry but contains a stream during the rainy season
- 1 Samuel 17:41 Literally “went going and near”
- 1 Samuel 17:41 Literally “the man carrying the shield”
- 1 Samuel 17:46 Literally “and I will remove your head from upon you”
- 1 Samuel 17:48 Literally “And it happened that when”
- 1 Samuel 17:48 Literally “made quickly and he ran”
- 1 Samuel 17:52 Literally “up to your coming to”
- 1 Samuel 17:52 So the Masoretic Hebrew text; LXX reads “Gath”
- 1 Samuel 17:52 Or “road”
- 1 Samuel 17:53 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
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