Beginning

15 ¶ And Samuel said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel; now, therefore, hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.

² Thus hath said the LORD of the hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt.

³ Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare him not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

⁴ And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah.

⁵ And Saul came to a city of Amalek and laid wait in the valley.

⁶ And Saul said unto the Kenite, Go, depart, go out from among those of Amalek lest I destroy you with them, for ye showed mercy to all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenite departed from among those of Amalek.

⁷ And Saul smote Amalek from Havilah until thou comest to Shur that is over against Egypt.

⁸ And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, 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, but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

¹⁰ ¶ Then the word of the LORD came unto Samuel, saying,

¹¹ It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it incensed Samuel, and he cried unto the LORD all night.

¹² And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set himself up a monument and is gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal.

¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD; I have performed the commandment of the LORD.

¹⁴ Then Samuel said, What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

¹⁵ And Saul said, They have brought them from Amalek, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

¹⁶ Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.

¹⁷ And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?

¹⁸ And the LORD sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners of Amalek and fight against them until they are consumed.

¹⁹ Why then didst thou not hear the voice of the LORD but didst fly upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?

²⁰ And Saul said unto Samuel, But 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 utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the firstfruits of the anathema, to sacrifice them unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

²² And Samuel said, Does the LORD have as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in hearing the voice of the LORD? Behold, to hear is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and to break the word of the Lord is iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected thee from being king.

²⁴ ¶ Then Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and thy words because I feared the people and consented unto their voice.

²⁵ Now, therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the LORD.

²⁶ And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected thee from being king over Israel.

²⁷ And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

²⁸ And Samuel said unto him, The LORD has rent the kingdom of Israel from thee today and has given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou.

²⁹ And also the Overcomer of Israel will not lie nor repent concerning this, for he is not a man, that he should repent.

³⁰ Then he said, I have sinned; yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people and before Israel and turn again with me that I may worship the LORD thy God.

³¹ So Samuel turned again after Saul, and Saul worshipped the LORD.

³² ¶ Then Samuel said, Bring me Agag, the king of Amalek. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is near.

³³ And Samuel said, As thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. Then Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵ And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul because the LORD had repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

16 ¶ And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thy horn with oil and go; I will send thee to Jesse of Bethlehem for I have provided me a king among his sons.

² And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul understands it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take a heifer with thee and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.

³ And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do, and thou shalt anoint unto me the one whom I name unto thee.

⁴ And Samuel did as the LORD said and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Comest thou peaceably?

⁵ And he said, Peaceably; I am come to sacrifice unto 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 it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab and said, Peradventure is the LORD’s anointed before him?

⁷ And the LORD replied unto Samuel, Do not look on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him, for it is 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. And he said, Neither has the LORD chosen this one.

⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither has the LORD chosen this one.

¹⁰ Again, Jesse made his seven sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD has not chosen these.

¹¹ And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are all thy young men here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send for him, for we will not sit down to the table until he comes here.

¹² And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and of a beautiful countenance and handsome. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he.

¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him from among his brethren; and the Spirit of the LORD prospered David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

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

¹⁵ And Saul’s slaves said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubles thee.

¹⁶ Let our lord now command thy slaves, which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp, and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand and thou shalt have relief.

¹⁷ And Saul said unto his slaves, Provide me now a man that can play well and bring him to me.

¹⁸ Then one of the servants answered and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem, that is cunning in playing and a mighty valiant man and a man of war and prudent in speech and handsome, and the LORD is with him.

¹⁹ Therefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said, Send me David, thy son, who is with the sheep.

²⁰ And Jesse took an ass laden with bread and a bottle of wine and a kid and sent them by David, his son, unto Saul.

²¹ And David came to Saul and stood before him; and he loved him greatly, and he became his armourbearer.

²² And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he has found favour in my sight.

²³ And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp and played with his hand; so Saul was refreshed and was better, and the evil spirit departed from him.

17 ¶ Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongs to Judah, and pitched camp between Shochoh and Azekah in Ephesdammim.

² And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched camp by the valley of Elah and ordered the battle against the Philistines.

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

⁴ And a man named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span, came out of the camp of the Philistines and stood between the two camps.

⁵ And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail of scales; and the weight of the coat of mail was five thousand shekels of brass.

⁶ And he had greaves of brass upon his legs and a shield of brass between his shoulders.

⁷ And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before him.

⁸ And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye slaves to Saul? Choose a man from among you, and let him come down to me.

⁹ If he is able to fight with me and to overcome me, then will we be your slaves, but if I prevail against him and overcome him, then ye shall be our slaves and serve us.

¹⁰ And the Philistine said, I have dishonoured the ranks of Israel today; 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 ¶ And David was the son of an Ephrathite man of Bethlehem of Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons, and this man was old in the days of Saul and of advanced age among men.

¹³ And the three eldest sons of Jesse had gone and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab and the third Shammah.

¹⁴ And David was the youngest, the three eldest having gone after Saul.

¹⁵ But David had gone and returned from being with Saul to feed his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

¹⁶ And the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself for forty days.

¹⁷ And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to thy brethren

¹⁸ and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand and look how thy brethren fare and take their pledge.

¹⁹ Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.

²⁰ And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went with his burden as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the trench as the host was going forth in battle array, and they had already sounded the alarm for the battle.

²¹ For Israel and the Philistines had ordered the battle, army against army.

²² And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army and came and asked about his brethren, if they were well.

²³ And as he talked with them, behold, there came up that man, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, speaking the same words, and David heard them.

²⁴ And all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and feared greatly.

²⁵ And each one of the men of Israel were saying, Have ye seen this man that is come up? He is come up to dishonour Israel. It shall be that the king will enrich the man who overcomes him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.

²⁶ Then David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that overcomes this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should dishonour the armies of the living God?

²⁷ And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that overcomes him.

²⁸ And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke unto the men, and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why didst thou come down here? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the malice of thy heart, for thou art come down that thou might see the battle.

²⁹ And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

³⁰ And he turned from him toward another and spoke after the same manner, and the people answered him again after the former manner.

³¹ ¶ And the words which David had spoken were heard, and they were rehearsed before Saul, and he sent for him.

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

³³ And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a young man, and he a man of war from his youth.

³⁴ And David replied unto Saul, Thy slave was the pastor of his father’s sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,

³⁵ I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him.

³⁶ Whether it was a lion or a bear thy slave would kill it, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has dishonoured the armies of the living God.

³⁷ David said moreover, The LORD that 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 unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

³⁸ And Saul clothed David with his clothing, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head; he also armed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹ And David girded Saul’s sword upon Saul’s clothing, and he undertook to go, for he had not proved them. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And putting them off, David

⁴⁰ ¶ took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a provision bag, and with his sling in his hand he drew near to the Philistine.

⁴¹ And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David, and the man that bore the shield went before him.

⁴² And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance.

⁴³ And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴ And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the heaven and to the beasts of the field.

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of the hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast dishonoured.

⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee and take thy head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the heaven and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

⁴⁷ And all this congregation shall 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 ¶ And it came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David that David hastened and ran to do battle against the Philistine.

⁴⁹ And David put his hand in his bag and took a stone from there and slang it and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone remained sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.

⁵⁰ So David overcame the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David.

⁵¹ Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and slew him and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw their giant was dead, they fled.

⁵² And the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines unto the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath and unto Ekron.

⁵³ And the sons of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents.

⁵⁴ And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

⁵⁵ And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul lives, O king, I cannot tell.

⁵⁶ And the king said, Enquire whose son the young man is.

⁵⁷ And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, 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 art thou, young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy slave Jesse of Bethlehem.