⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, that is, in his shepherd’s pouch, and ^(A)his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ Then the Philistine came and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, ^(B)he was contemptuous of him; for he was only a youth, and ^[a](C)reddish, with a handsome appearance. ⁴³ So the Philistine said to David, “^(D)Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And ^(E)the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh ^(F)to the birds of the sky and the ^[b]wild animals.” ⁴⁵ But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a ^[c]saber, ^(G)but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. Then I will give the ^(H)dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, ^(I)so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that this entire assembly may know that ^(J)the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; ^(K)for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will hand you over to us!”

⁴⁸ Then it happened, when the Philistine ^[d]came closer to meet David, that ^(L)David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and the stone: he struck the Philistine and killed him, and there was no sword in David’s hand.