David and Goliath

17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. They were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah. They set up their tents between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. ² Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and set up their tents in the valley of Elah. They came up dressed for battle to fight against the Philistines. ³ The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them. ⁴ Then a strong fighter came out from the armies of the Philistines. His name was Goliath, from Gath. He was almost twice as tall as most men. ⁵ He had a head covering of brass, and wore brass battle-clothes that weighed as much as 5,000 silver pieces. ⁶ He wore brass leg-coverings, and had a brass spear on his shoulders. ⁷ The long part of his spear was like a cross-piece used on a cloth-maker. The iron head of his spear weighed as much as 600 pieces of silver. A man walked before him to carry his shield. ⁸ Goliath stood and called out to the army of Israel, saying, “Why have you come out dressed for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and you the 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 fight him and kill him, then you must become our servants and work for us.” ¹⁰ Again the Philistine said, “I stand against the army 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 troubled and very afraid.

¹² Now David was the son of Jesse, an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and was old in the days of Saul. He had lived many years. ¹³ Jesse’s three older sons had followed Saul to the battle. Their names were Eliab the first-born, next Abinadab, and third Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three oldest sons followed Saul. ¹⁵ But David went to and from Saul, to take care of his father’s flock at Bethlehem. ¹⁶ The Philistine came out and showed himself morning and evening for forty days.

¹⁷ Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take for your brothers a basket of this baked grain and these ten loaves. Hurry and carry them to your brothers among the army. ¹⁸ And take these ten pieces of cheese to the leader of the thousand man group who is with them. See how your brothers are doing, and bring me news of them. ¹⁹ Saul and your brothers and all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”

²⁰ So David got up early in the morning and left the flock in the care of a shepherd. He took the food and went, as Jesse had told him. And he came to the tents as the army was going out dressed for battle, calling out the war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines came near each other dressed for battle, army against army. ²² David left the things with the man to take care of them. He ran to the army, and went to meet with his brothers. ²³ As he talked with them, Goliath the Philistine from Gath came out of the army of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. ²⁴ When all the men of Israel saw the man, they ran away from him and were very much afraid. ²⁵ The men of Israel said, “Have you seen the man who has come out? He has come out to stand against Israel. The king will make the man who kills him rich. And he will give him his daughter, and make his father’s family free from paying taxes in Israel.” ²⁶ Then David said to the men standing by him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away Israel’s shame? For who is this Philistine who has not gone through the religious act of the Jews? Who is he, that he should make fun of the armies of the living God?” ²⁷ And the people answered him in the same way, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ His oldest brother Eliab heard what he said to the men. He became very angry with David and said, “Why have you come here? With whom have you left those few sheep in the desert? I know of your pride and the sin of your heart. You have come to see the battle.” ²⁹ But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?” ³⁰ Then David turned away from him to another and asked the same question. And the people gave him the same answer.

³¹ When David’s words were heard, they were told to Saul, and Saul sent for him. ³² David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart become weak because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³ Saul said to David, “You are not able to go and fight against this Philistine. You are only a young man, while he has been a man of war since he was young.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant was taking care of his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went after him and fought him and saved it from his mouth. When he came against me, I took hold of him by the hair of his head and hit him and killed him. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. And this Philistine who has not gone through our religious act will be like one of them. For he has made fun of the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ And David said, “The Lord Who saved me from the foot of the lion and from the foot of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” ³⁸ Then Saul dressed David with his clothes. He put a brass head covering on his head, and dressed him with heavy battle-clothes. ³⁹ David put on his sword over his heavy battle-clothes and tried to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I am not used to them.” And David took them off. ⁴⁰ He took his stick in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the river. He put them in his shepherd’s bag. His sling was in his hand, and he went to the Philistine.

⁴¹ The Philistine came near to David, with the man carrying his shield in front of him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, he thought nothing of him. For he was only a young man, with good color in his skin, and good-looking. ⁴³ The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine spoke against David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, “Come to me. I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the animals of the field.” ⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and spears. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of All, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom you have stood against. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will give you into my hands. I will knock you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth. Then all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ All these people gathered here may know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.” ⁴⁸ Then the Philistine rose up and came to meet David. And David rushed to the center of the valley to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ David put his hand into his bag, took out a stone and threw it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone went into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰ So David won the fight against the Philistine with a sling and a stone. He hit the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in David’s hand. ⁵¹ Then David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took his sword out of its holder and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their strong soldier was dead, they ran away. ⁵² The men of Israel and Judah rose up and called out and went after the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron. The dead Philistines lay on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ Then the Israelites returned from following the Philistines and took what had belonged to them among their tents. ⁵⁴ David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem. But he put his battle-clothes in his tent.

⁵⁵ When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner the head of his army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” And Abner said, “By your life, O king, I do not know.” ⁵⁶ The king said, “Find out whose son the young man is.” ⁵⁷ So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner brought him to Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand. ⁵⁸ Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”