16 The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided for Myself a king among his sons.

² Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.

³ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.

⁴ And Samuel did what the Lord said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Have you come peaceably?

⁵ And he said, Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they had come, he looked on Eliab [the eldest son] and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. But Samuel said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one.

⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. Samuel said, Nor has the Lord chosen him.

¹⁰ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen any of these.

¹¹ Then [he] said to Jesse, Are all your sons here? [Jesse] said, There is yet the youngest; he is tending the sheep. Samuel said to Jesse, Send for him; for we will not sit down to eat until he is here.

¹² Jesse sent and brought him. David had a healthy reddish complexion and beautiful eyes, and was fine-looking. The Lord said [to Samuel], Arise, anoint him; this is he.

¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

¹⁴ But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented and troubled him.

¹⁵ Saul’s servants said to him, Behold, an evil spirit from God torments you.

¹⁶ Let our lord now command your servants here before you to find a man who plays skillfully on the lyre; and when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.

¹⁷ Saul told his servants, Find me a man who plays well and bring him to me.

¹⁸ One of the young men said, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who plays skillfully, a valiant man, a man of war, prudent in speech and eloquent, an attractive person; and the Lord is with him.

¹⁹ So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.

²⁰ And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a kid and sent them by David his son to Saul.

²¹ And David came to Saul and served him. Saul became very fond of him, and he became his armor-bearer.

²² Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he pleases me.

²³ And when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, David took a lyre and played it; so Saul was refreshed and became well, and the evil spirit left him.

17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and were assembled at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.

² Saul and the men of Israel were encamped in the Valley of Elah and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.

³ And the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with the valley between them.

⁴ And a champion went out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [almost ten feet].

⁵ And he had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of mail, and the coat weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze.

⁶ He had bronze shin armor on his legs and a bronze javelin across his shoulders.

⁷ And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; his spear’s head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And a shield bearer went before him.

⁸ Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not 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 serve us.

¹⁰ And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

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

¹² David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse, who had eight sons. [Jesse] in the days of Saul was old, advanced in years.

¹³ [His] three eldest sons had followed Saul into battle. Their names were Eliab the firstborn; next, Abinadab; and third, Shammah.

¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul,

¹⁵ But David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ The Philistine came out morning and evening, presenting himself for forty days.

¹⁷ And Jesse said to David his son, Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to your brothers at the camp.

¹⁸ Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare and bring some token from them.

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

²⁰ So David rose up early next morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host going forth to the battleground shouted the battle cry.

²¹ And Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army.

²² David left his packages in the care of the baggage keeper and ran into the ranks and came and greeted his brothers.

²³ As they talked, behold, Goliath, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, came forth from the Philistine ranks and spoke the same words as before, and David heard him.

²⁴ And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, terrified.

²⁵ And the Israelites said, Have you seen this man who has come out? Surely he has come out to defy Israel; and the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free [from taxes and service] in Israel.

²⁶ And David said to the men standing by him, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

²⁷ And the [men] told him, Thus shall it be done for the man who kills him.

²⁸ Now Eliab his eldest brother heard what he said to the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David and he said, Why did you come here? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and evilness of heart; for you came down that you might see the battle.

²⁹ And David said, What have I done now? Was it not a harmless question?

³⁰ And David turned away from Eliab to another and he asked the same question, and again the men gave him the same answer.

³¹ When David’s words were heard, they were repeated to Saul, and he sent for him.

³² David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of this Philistine; your servant will go out and fight with him.

³³ And Saul said to David, You are not able to go to fight against this Philistine. You are only an adolescent, and he has been a warrior from his youth.

³⁴ And David said to Saul, Your servant kept his father’s sheep. And when there came a lion or again a bear and took a lamb out of the flock,

³⁵ I went out after it and smote it and delivered the lamb out of its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and smote it and killed it.

³⁶ Your servant killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied 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 Then Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹ And David girded his sword over his armor. Then he tried to go, but could not, for he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I am not used to them. And David took them off.

⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in his shepherd’s [lunch] bag [a whole kid’s skin slung from his shoulder], in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near the Philistine.

⁴¹ The Philistine came on and drew near to David, the man who bore the shield going before him.

⁴² And when the Philistine looked around and saw David, he scorned and despised him, for he was but an adolescent, with a healthy reddish color and a fair face.

⁴³ And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you should come to me with sticks? And 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 air and the beasts of the field.

⁴⁵ Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied.

⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

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

⁴⁸ When the Philistine came forward to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

⁴⁹ David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone and slung it, and it struck the Philistine, sinking into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck down the Philistine and slew him. But no sword was in David’s hand.

⁵¹ So he ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their mighty champion was dead, they fled.

⁵² And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron. So the wounded Philistines fell along the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.

⁵³ The Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines and 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 go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I cannot tell.

⁵⁶ And the king said, Inquire whose son the stripling is.

⁵⁷ When David returned from killing Goliath the Philistine, Abner brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

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

18 When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own life.

² Saul took David that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.

³ Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own life.

⁴ And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, even his sword, his bow, and his girdle.

⁵ And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he prospered and behaved himself wisely; and Saul set him over the men of war. And it was satisfactory both to the people and to Saul’s servants.

⁶ As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the Israelite towns, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with timbrels, songs of joy, and instruments of music.

⁷ And the women responded as they laughed and frolicked, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

⁸ And Saul was very angry, for the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed only thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?

⁹ And Saul [jealously] eyed David from that day forward.

¹⁰ The next day an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved [madly] in his house, while David played [the lyre] with his hand, as at other times; and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.

¹¹ And Saul cast the javelin, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. And David evaded him twice.

¹² Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.

¹³ So Saul removed David from him and made him his commander over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

¹⁴ David acted wisely in all his ways and succeeded, and the Lord was with him.

¹⁵ When Saul saw how capable and successful David was, he stood in awe of him.

¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

¹⁷ Saul said to David, My elder daughter Merab I will give you as wife; only serve me courageously and fight the Lord’s battles. For Saul thought, Let not my hand, but the Philistines’ hand, be upon him.

¹⁸ David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?

¹⁹ But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.

²⁰ Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and it pleased him.

²¹ Saul thought, I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. So Saul said to David a second time, You shall now be my son-in-law.

²² And Saul commanded his servants to speak to David privately and say, The king delights in you, and all his servants love you; now then, become [his] son-in-law.

²³ Saul’s servants told those words to David. David said, Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?

²⁴ And the servants of Saul told him what David said.

²⁵ Saul said, Say this to David, The king wants no dowry but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to avenge himself of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the Philistines’ hands.

²⁶ When his servants told David these words, it pleased [him] well to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the days expired,

²⁷ David went, he and his men, and slew two hundred Philistine men, and brought their foreskins and gave them in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

²⁸ When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michal [his] daughter loved him,

²⁹ Saul was still more afraid of David; and Saul became David’s constant enemy.

³⁰ Then the Philistine princes came out to battle, and when they did so, David had more success and behaved himself more wisely than all Saul’s servants, so that his name was very dear and highly esteemed.