1 Samuel 14:43-17:25

Revised Standard Version

⁴³ Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand; here I am, I will die.” ⁴⁴ And Saul said, “God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan.” ⁴⁵ Then the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has wrought this great victory in Israel? Far from it! As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has wrought with God this day.” So the people ransomed Jonathan, that he did not die. ⁴⁶ Then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own place.

Saul’s Continuing Wars

⁴⁷ When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines; wherever he turned he put them to the worse. ⁴⁸ And he did valiantly, and smote the Amal′ekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.

⁴⁹ Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Mal′chishu′a; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the first-born was Merab, and the name of the younger Michal; ⁵⁰ and the name of Saul’s wife was Ahin′o-am the daughter of Ahim′a-az. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle; ⁵¹ Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abi′el.

⁵² There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul; and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.

Saul Defeats the Amalekites but Spares Their King

15 And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore hearken to the words of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish what Am′alek did to Israel in opposing them on the way, when they came up out of Egypt. ³ Now go and smite Am′alek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.’”

⁴ So Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Tela′im, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵ And Saul came to the city of Am′alek, and lay in wait in the valley. ⁶ And Saul said to the Ken′ites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amal′ekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Ken′ites departed from among the Amal′ekites. ⁷ And Saul defeated the Amal′ekites, from Hav′ilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸ And he took Agag the king of the Amal′ekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; all that was despised and worthless they utterly destroyed.

Saul Rejected as King

¹⁰ The word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹ “I repent that I have made Saul king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry; and he cried to the Lord all night. ¹² And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.” ¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” ¹⁴ And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” ¹⁵ Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amal′ekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” ¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Say on.”

¹⁷ And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amal′ekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Am′alek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amal′ekites. ²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²² And Samuel said,

²⁴ And Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. ²⁵ Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.” ²⁶ And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” ²⁷ As Samuel turned to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. ²⁹ And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.” ³⁰ Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” ³¹ So Samuel turned back after Saul; and Saul worshiped the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amal′ekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” ³³ And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gib′e-ah of Saul. ³⁵ And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

David Anointed as King

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” ² And 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 him whom I name to you.” ⁴ Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do 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 invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they came, he looked on Eli′ab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” ⁸ Then Jesse called Abin′adab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he comes here.” ¹² And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” ¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

David Plays the Lyre for Saul

¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. ¹⁵ And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Let our lord now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is skilful in playing the lyre; and when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” ¹⁷ So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well, and bring him to me.” ¹⁸ One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skilful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence; and the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹ Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” ²⁰ And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a skin of wine and a kid, and sent them by David his son to Saul. ²¹ And David came to Saul, and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. ²² And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” ²³ And whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand; so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

David and Goliath

17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Aze′kah, in E′phes-dam′mim. ² And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. ³ And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. ⁴ And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. ⁵ He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. ⁶ And he had greaves of bronze upon his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. ⁷ And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. ⁸ He 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 these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

¹² Now David was the son of an Eph′rathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.^{[a] 13} The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eli′ab the first-born, and next to him Abin′adab, and the 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 For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.

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 the camp to your brothers; 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 they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. ²⁰ And David rose early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the encampment as the host was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. ²¹ And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. ²² And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. ²³ As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.

²⁴ All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were much afraid. ²⁵ And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up 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 in Israel.”