1 Samuel 17
1NOW the Philistines had assembled their armies for battle, and having formed a junction at Socchoth of Judea, they encamped between Socchoth and Azeka-Aphesdommin.
2Whereupon Saul and the men of Israel assembled and encamped in the valley, and drew up in array for battle against the Philistines.
3And while the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a vale between them,
4there came forth a mighty man from the battle-line of the Philistines. His name was Goliath, of Geth. His height was four cubits and a span [over seven feet].
5And he had a helmet on his head, and was clad with a breastplate of chainwork; and the weight of his breastplate was five thousand shekels. It was of brass and iron:
6and the greaves on his legs were of brass; and he had a target of brass between his shoulders.
7And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam: and his spear’s head was six hundred shekels of iron. And his armour-bearer walked before him.
8And he stood, and cried with a loud voice, to the line of Israel, and said to them, Why come ye out to array yourselves for battle against us? Am not I a Philistine; and you Hebrews the servants of Saul? Choose out for yourselves a man, and let him come down to me.
9And if he be able to fight with me, and slay me, we will be your slaves; but if I prevail, and slay him, you shall be our slaves, and serve us.
10Then the Philistine said, Behold I have now this day defied the army of Israel. Give me a man that we may fight at single combat.
11When Saul, and all Israel, heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly terrified.
12And David son of an Ephrathite said, this Ephrathite was of Bethlehem Juda, and his name was Jessai, and he had eight sons, and he was already an old man among men in the days of Saul.
13And the three elder sons of Jessai went and followed Saul to the war, and the names of his sons that went to the war were, Eliab his firstborn, and Aminadab his second, and his third son Samma.
14And David himself was the younger son and the three elder followed Saul.
15And David departed and returned from Saul to Bethlehem to feed his father’s sheep.
16And the Philistine advanced morning and evening, and stood up forty days.
17And Jessai said to David, Take now to thy brethren a measure [ephah] of this meal, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp and give them to thy brothers.
18Also thou shalt carry to the captain of the thousand the ten cheeses from this milk, and thou shalt see how thy brethren fare, and learn what they desire.
19And Saul himself and all the men of Israel were in the valley of the Oak, warring with the Philistines.
20And David rose early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went as Jessai had commanded him, and he came to the trench and to the army as it was going out to fight, and they shouted for the battle.
21And Israel and the Philistines formed their lines one opposite the other.
22And David left his burden in the hand of a guard, and ran to the line, and went and asked his brethren how they were.
23And while he was speaking with them, behold the Amessian advanced, Goliath by name, the Philistine of Geth, of the armies of the Philistines, and he spoke as aforesaid, and David heard.
24And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man fled before him, and they were sore affrighted.
25And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man who approaches? for he has reproached Israel, and whomsoever shall smite him, the king shall bestow upon him great wealth, and shall give him his daughter, and shall make his father’s house free in Israel.
26And David spoke to the men who stood with him, saying, Shall this be done to the man who shall smite that Philistine, and take away reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he has defied the army of the living God?
27And the people answered him saying, Thus shall it be done to the man who shall smite him.
28And Eliab, his elder brother, heard as he spoke with the men, and Eliab was very angry with David and said, Why hast thou thus come here, and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the mischief of thine heart, for thou art come down to see the battle.
29And David said, What have I done now? Have I no business here?
30And he turned from him toward another, and he spoke after the same manner; and the people answered him as before.
31And the words which David spoke were heard, and were reported to Saul. And he took him aside.
32Whereupon David said to Saul, Let not, I pray thee, the heart of my lord be discouraged, thy servant will go and fight this Philistine.
33And Saul said to David, Thou canst not go against the Philistine to fight with him; for thou art but a youth, and he is a warrior from his youth.
34And David said to Saul, Thy servant tended his father’s flock. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a sheep from the flock, I went out after him, and smote him, and rescued it out of his mouth.
35And if he rose up against me, I seized him by the throat, and smote, and killed him.
36Thy servant hath slain a lion and a bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them. Shall I not go and smite him, and remove, this day, a reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised, that he should defy the army of the living God?
37The 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 uncircumcised Philistine.
38Then Saul said to David, Go; and the Lord be with thee. And when Saul had clad David with a coat of mail, and put a helmet of brass on his head, and girded his sword on David over the coat of mail,
39he essayed to walk about once or twice. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not been accustomed to them. So they took them off him.
40Then he took his staff in his hand, and having chosen for himself five smooth stones out of the brook, he put them in the shepherd’s scrip, which he kept for a purse, and with a sling in his hand, he went out to meet the man—the Philistine.
41And the Philistine advanced and drew near to David, his armour-bearer with his shield preceding him, and the Philistine looked on.
42When Goliath saw David, He despised him exceedingly; for he was a mere youth, and was of a ruddy complexion with beautiful eyes.
43And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that thou shouldst come out against me with a stick, and with stones?
44And David said, Nay, but worse than a dog. Upon which the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And when the Philistine said to David, Come hither to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the air, and the beasts of the earth,
45David said to the Philistine, Thou comest against me with a sword, and a spear, and a shield, but I am coming to thee with the name of the Lord God of Sabbaoth, of the army of Israel, which thou hast, this day, defied.
46And the Lord will deliver thee this day into my hand, and I will kill thee, and cut off thy head, and give thy carcass, and the carcasses of the army of the Philistines this day, to the birds of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel;
47and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saveth not with a sword or a spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and the Lord will deliver you into our hands.
48Then the Philistine arose and went to meet David.
49And David put his hand in the scrip, and took out a stone, and slinged it, and smote the Philistine on the forehead, and the stone pierced through the helmet, into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
50So David vanquished the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and smote the Philistine and slew him, and there was no sword in the hand of David.
51And David ran, and stood upon him, and took his sword, and killed him, and cut off his head. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled;
52and the men of Israel, and Juda, arose, and shouted, and pursued them to the entrance of Geth, and to the gate of Askalon. And the wounded of the Philistines fell on the road to the gates, all the way to Geth, and even to Akkaron.
53And when the men of Israel returned from pursuing the Philistines, they trampled down their camps.
54And David took the head of the Philistine, and carried it to Jerusalem; but his arms he laid up in his tent.
55Now when Saul had seen David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abener the captain of the host, Whose son is this youth? and Abener said, As thy soul lives, O king, I know not.
56And the king said, Ask thou whose son this youth is.
57And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abener met him and brought him in before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
58And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, young man? And David said, The son of thy servant, Jessai of Bethlehem.