1 Samuel 16:14-17:16

New King James Version

A Distressing Spirit Troubles Saul

^14 (A)But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and ^(B)a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. ¹⁵ And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. ¹⁶ Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will ^(C)play it with his hand when the ^[a]distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well.”

¹⁷ So Saul said to his servants, ^[b]“Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.”

¹⁸ Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and ^(D)the Lord is with him.”

¹⁹ Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” ²⁰ And Jesse ^(E)took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul. ²¹ So David came to Saul and ^(F)stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer. ²² Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” ²³ And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.

David and Goliath

17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at ^(G)Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. ² And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. ³ The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.

⁴ And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named ^(H)Goliath, from ^(I)Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. ⁵ He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was ^[c]armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. ⁶ And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. ⁷ Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. ⁸ Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the ^(J)servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and ^(K)serve us.” ¹⁰ And the Philistine said, “I ^(L)defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” ¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

¹² Now David was ^(M)the son of that ^(N)Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had ^(O)eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul. ¹³ The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The ^(P)names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul. ¹⁵ But David occasionally went and returned from Saul ^(Q)to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.