Beginning
15 Afterward, Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now, therefore, obey the Voice of the Words of the LORD.
2 “Thus says the LORD of Hosts: ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how they laid in wait for them on the road, as they came up from Egypt.
3 ‘Now go and strike Amalek, and destroy all that they have, and have no compassion on them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
4 And Saul assembled the people in Telaim and counted them, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek and set a watch at the river.
6 And Saul said to the Kenites, “Go! Depart! Get yourselves down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed mercy to all the children of Israel when they came up from Egypt.” And the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7 So Saul struck the Amalekites from Havilah (as you come to Shur, that is before Egypt),
8 and took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the better sheep and the oxen and the fat beasts and the lambs and all that was good; and they would not destroy them. But everything that was vile and worth nothing, that they destroyed.
10 Then came the Word of the LORD to Samuel, saying,
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king; for he has turned from Me and has not performed My Commandments.” And Samuel was moved and cried to the LORD all night.
12 And when Samuel arose early to meet Saul in the morning, one told Samuel, saying, “Saul has gone to Carmel. And behold, he has made himself a place there, from where he returned and departed and has gone down to Gilgal.”
13 Then Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you of the LORD! I have fulfilled the Commandment of the LORD!”
14 But Samuel said, “What, then, does the bleating of the sheep in my ears mean, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15 And Saul answered, “They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, to sacrifice them to the LORD your God. And the rest we have destroyed.”
16 Again, Samuel said to Saul, “Let me tell you what the LORD has said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Say on.”
17 Then Samuel said, “When you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? For the LORD anointed you king over Israel.
18 “And the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go and destroy those sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until you destroy them!’
19 “Now, why have you not obeyed the Voice of the LORD, but have turned to the prey and have done wickedly in the sight of the LORD?”
20 And Saul said to Samuel, “Yea, I have obeyed the Voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have destroyed the Amalekites.
21 “But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen and the best of the things which should have been destroyed, to offer to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
22 And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great a pleasure in Burnt Offerings and Sacrifices as when the Voice of the LORD is obeyed? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen is better than the fat of rams.
23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft; and transgression is wickedness and idolatry. Because you have cast away the Word of the LORD, therefore He has cast away you from being king.”
24 Then 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, please take away my sin and turn back with me, so that I may worship the LORD.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have cast away the Word of the LORD, and the LORD has cast away you, so that you shall not be king over Israel.”
27 And as Samuel turned himself to go away, he caught the lap of his coat, and it tore.
28 Then Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.
29 “For indeed the Strength of Israel will neither lie nor repent. For He is not a man that He should repent.”
30 Then he said, “I have sinned. But, please honor me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.
31 So, Samuel turned back and followed Saul. And Saul worshipped the LORD.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag, the king of the Amalekites, here to me.” And Agag came to him pleasantly; and Agag said, “Truly the bitterness of death has passed.”
33 And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among other women.” And Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
34 So Samuel departed to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house, to Gibeah of Saul.
35 And Samuel no longer came to see Saul until the day of his death. But Samuel mourned for Saul. And the LORD regretted that He made Saul king over Israel.
16 The LORD then said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have cast him away from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and come. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”
2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? For if Saul shall hear it, he will kill me.” Then the LORD answered, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to do Sacrifice to the LORD.’
3 “And call Jesse to the Sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint to Me him whom I name for you.”
4 So Samuel did what the LORD told him and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town were astonished at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
5 And he answered, “Yea, I have come to do Sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the Sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the Sacrifice.
6 And when they had come, he looked at Eliab, and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him.”
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance, or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For I see not as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD beholds the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him come before Samuel. And he said, “Nor has the LORD chosen this one.”
9 Then Jesse made Shammah come. And he said, “Nor has the LORD chosen him.”
10 Again, Jesse made his seven sons come before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has chosen none of these.”
11 Finally, Samuel said to Jesse, “Are there no more children?” And he said, “There remains yet a little one who keeps the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down until he has come here.”
12 And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy with beautiful eyes, and 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 brethren. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul; and a spirit of misery from the LORD troubled him.
15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, the spirit of misery from God troubles you.
16 “Let our Lord therefore command your servants before you to seek a man who is a cunning player upon the harp, so that when the God’s spirit of misery comes upon you, he may play with his hand, and you may be eased.
17 Then Saul said to his servants, “Please provide me a man who can play well and bring him to me.”
18 Then one of his servants answered, and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, a Bethlehemite, who can play. He is strong, valiant, a man of war, wise in matters and good-looking. 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 a donkey, with bread and a skin of wine and a kid, and sent them by the hand of David, his son, to Saul.
21 And David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him very well. And he was his armor bearer.
22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David now remain with me; for he has found favor in my sight.”
23 And so when the spirit from God came upon Saul, David took a harp and played with his hand and Saul was refreshed and was eased. For the spirit of misery departed from him.
17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies to battle, and came together to Sochoh, which is in Judah, and camped between Sochoh and Azekah, in the territory of Dammim.
2 And Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, and put themselves in battle formation, to meet the Philistines.
3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side. And Israel stood on a mountain on the other side. So, a valley was between them.
4 Then came a man between them both, out of the tents of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath. His height was six cubits and a span.
5 And he had a helmet of bronze upon his head, and a brigandine upon him. And the weight of his brigandine was five thousand shekels of bronze.
6 And he had boots of bronze upon his legs, and a shield of bronze upon his shoulders.
7 And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam. And his spearhead weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And one bearing a shield went before him.
8 And he stood and cried against the army of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you set yourselves in battle formation? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose you a man for yourselves and let him come down to me!
9 “If he is able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants! But, if I overcome him, and kill him, then you shall be our servants, and serve us!”
10 Also the Philistine said, “I defy the army of Israel this day! Give me a man, so that we may fight together!”
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were discouraged, and greatly afraid.
12 Now, this David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. And this man was taken for an old man in the days of Saul.
13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to battle were Eliab the eldest, and the next Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
14 So David was the least. And the three eldest went after Saul.
15 David also went; but he returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16 And the Philistine drew near in the morning and evening and continued for forty days.
17 And Jesse said to David, his son, “Take now an ephah of this parched corn and these ten cakes for your brothers, and run to the camp, to your brothers.
18 “Also, carry these ten fresh cheeses to the captain, and see how your brothers are faring, and receive their pledge.
19 And Saul and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
20 So, David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went as Jesse had commanded him and came within the perimeter of the camp. And the army went out in formation and shouted in the battle.
21 For Israel and the Philistines had put themselves in formation, army against army.
22 And David left the things which he bore under the hands of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the camp, and came and asked his brothers how they were doing.
23 And as he talked with them, behold, the man who had been between the two armies (whose name was Goliath the Philistine of Gath), came up out of the army of the Philistines and spoke the same words. And David heard them.
24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, ran away from him and were very afraid.
25 For every man of Israel said, “Did you not see this man who comes up? He comes up to revile Israel. And to him who kills him, the king will the give great riches and will give him his daughter, yea, and will make his father’s House free in Israel.”
26 Then, David spoke to the men who stood with him, and said, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the shame from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should revile the army of the living God?”
27 And the people answered him in this way, saying, “Thus shall it be done for the man who kills him.”
28 And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab was very angry with David, and said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the malice of your heart, that you have come down to see the battle!”
29 Then David said, “What have I done now? Is there no such word?”
30 And he departed from him into the presence of another and spoke of the same matter, and the people answered him according to the previous words.
31 And those who heard the words which David spoke, repeated them before Saul, who caused him to be brought.
32 So David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail him because of him! Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine!”
33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him. For you are a boy; and he is a man of war, from his youth.”
34 And David answered Saul, “Your servant kept his father’s sheep. And there came a lion, and likewise a bear, and took a sheep out of the flock.
35 “And I went out after him and struck him and took it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard and struck him and killed him.
36 “So, your servant killed both the lion and the bear! Therefore, this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has railed on the army of the living God!”
37 Moreover, 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.” Then Saul said to David, “Go! And the LORD be with you!”
38 And Saul put his battle clothing upon David, and put a helmet of bronze upon his head, and put a brigandine upon him.
39 Then David fastened his sword upon his battle clothing and began to go, never testing it. But David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these. For I am not accustomed.” Therefore, David took them off.
40 Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones for himself, out of a brook, and put them in his shepherd’s bag (or scrip). And his sling was in his hand; and he drew near to the Philistine.
41 And the Philistine came and drew near to David. And the man who bare the shield went before him.
42 Now, when the Philistine looked around and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but young, ruddy and good-looking.
43 And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, so that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me! And I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the field!”
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield! But I come to you in the Name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have defied!
46 “This day the LORD shall close you in my hand! And I shall strike you, and take your head from you! And this day, I will give the carcasses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth! So that all the world may know that Israel has a God,
47 “and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save with sword or with spear! For the battle is the LORD’s! And He will give you into our hands!”
48 And when the Philistine arose to come and draw near to David, David hurried and ran to fight against the Philistine.
49 And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slang it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone stuck in his forehead. And he fell to the earth, groveling.
50 So David overcame the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him, when David had no sword in his hand.
51 Then David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of his sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. So, when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
52 And the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and followed after the Philistines until they came to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the Philistines fell down, wounded, by the road of Shaaraim, all the way to Gath and to Ekron.
53 And the children of Israel returned from pursuing the Philistines and plundered their tents.
54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem and put his armor in his tent.
55 When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of his army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” And Abner answered, “As your soul lives, O king, I cannot tell.”
56 Then the King said, “Inquire whose son this young man is.”
57 And when David had returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, then Abner took him and 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 the Bethlehemite.”
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