1 Samuel 17
1 The Philistines gathered their armies for war. They assembled at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and camped between Socoh and Azekah, at Ephes-dammim.
2 Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, then formed their battle lines facing the Philistines.
3 The Philistines stood on one hill, and Israel stood on another, with the valley between them.
4 A champion came out of the Philistine camp. His name was Goliath, from Gath, and he was six cubits and a span tall.
5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor. The armor weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.
6 He wore bronze greaves on his legs and carried a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield-bearer walked ahead of him.
8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to form a battle line? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man, and let him come down to me.
9 If he can fight me and strike me down, we will become your servants. But if I defeat him and strike him down, you will become our servants and serve us.”
10 The Philistine added, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel. Give me a man, and we will fight each other.”
11 Saul and all Israel heard what the Philistine said. They were dismayed and very afraid.
12 David was the son of that Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In Saul’s days, this man was old, advanced in years.
13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the three sons who went to war were Eliab, the firstborn; Abinadab, the second; and Shammah, the third.
14 David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul.
15 David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16 The Philistine came forward morning and evening and took his stand for forty days.
17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves to your brothers, and hurry to the camp, to your brothers.
18 Take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers are doing, and bring back a token from them.”
19 Saul, they, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.
20 David got up early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went, as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle line, raising the war cry.
21 Israel and the Philistines formed their lines, one facing the other.
22 David left his load in the care of the keeper of the supplies, ran to the battle line, and went to ask his brothers how they were.
23 While he was speaking with them, the champion came up from the Philistine ranks. Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, spoke the same words, and David heard him.
24 When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him, very much afraid.
25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man coming up? He is coming to defy Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who strikes him down, give him his daughter, and make his father’s household free from obligations in Israel.”
26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the ranks of the living God?”
27 The people answered him with the same words: “This is what will be done for the man who strikes him down.”
28 Eliab, his oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men and became angry with David. He said, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and the wickedness in your heart. You came down to watch the battle.”
29 David replied, “What have I done now? Wasn’t it just a word?”
30 He turned away from him to someone else and asked the same thing, and the people gave him the same answer as before.
31 The words David had spoken were heard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart because of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.”
33 Saul said to David, “You cannot go against this Philistine to fight him, for you are a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
34 David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. A lion or a bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock.
35 I would go after it, strike it, and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it turned on me, I would seize it by the jaw, strike it, and kill it.”
36 “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the ranks of the living God.”
37 David added, “The LORD, who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”
38 Saul dressed David in his own clothes, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor.
39 David strapped Saul’s sword over his clothes and tried to walk, because he was not used to it. Then David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in this; I’m not used to it.” So David took it all off.
40 He took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in his pouch. With his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
41 The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer walking ahead of him.
42 The Philistine looked and saw David, and he despised him, for he was a young man, ruddy and handsome.
43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 The Philistine said to David, “Come here to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied.
46 Today the LORD will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, and the whole earth will know that there is a God in Israel.”
47 “And this whole assembly will know that the LORD does not save by sword or spear, for the battle belongs to the LORD, and he will hand you over to us.”
48 When the Philistine rose and came closer to meet David, David quickly ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
49 David reached into his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
50 So David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine and killed him, though David had no sword in his hand.
51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took the Philistine’s sword, drew it from its sheath, and killed him, cutting off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
52 The men of Israel and Judah rose up, raised the war cry, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance to the valley and the gates of Ekron. The wounded Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron.
53 The Israelites returned from pursuing the Philistines and plundered their camp.
54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he kept the Philistine’s weapons in his tent.
55 When Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”
56 The king said, “Find out whose son that young man is.”
57 When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the Philistine’s head in his hand.
58 Saul asked him, “Whose son are you, young man?” David replied, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
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