1 Samuel 17

17 ¹The Philistines gathered their forces for battle, assembling at Socoh in Judah and camping at Ephes-dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. ²Saul and the men of Israel gathered, camped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up their battle line facing the Philistines. ³The Philistines stood on one hill, Israel on the hill opposite, the valley between them. ⁴A champion named Goliath of Gath came out from the Philistine camp, standing about nine feet nine inches tall. ⁵On his head a bronze helmet; he wore scale armor weighing about 125 pounds. ⁶Bronze guards covered his legs, and a bronze javelin hung between his shoulders. ⁷His spear's shaft was like a weaver's beam, its iron head weighed about fifteen pounds. His shield-bearer went ahead of him. ⁸He stood and shouted to Israel's ranks, "Why come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you Saul's servants? Choose a man and send him down to me. ⁹If he can fight and kill me, we'll be your servants; but if I overpower and kill him, you'll be our servants and serve us." ¹⁰Then the Philistine said, "I defy Israel's ranks today! Give me a man; let us fight."

¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard the Philistine's words, they were dismayed and terrified.

¹²David was the son of Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah who had eight sons. In Saul's day Jesse was old, advanced in years. ¹³Jesse's three oldest followed Saul to war: Eliab the firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shammah the third. ¹⁴David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul, ¹⁵but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

¹⁷Jesse told his son David, "Take your brothers this large supply of roasted grain and these ten loaves, and hurry them to your brothers at the camp. ¹⁸Take these ten cheeses to their unit commander. Check how your brothers are, and bring back news of them. ¹⁹Saul, David's brothers, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines."

²⁰At dawn David left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and went as Jesse ordered. He reached the camp as the army marched to its battle line, shouting the war cry. ²¹Israel and the Philistines drew up their lines facing each other. ²²David left his supplies with the supply keeper, ran to the battle line, and greeted his brothers. ²³As he talked with them, Goliath the Philistine champion from Gath stepped out from the Philistine ranks and shouted his usual challenge, and David heard it. ²⁴When the men of Israel saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. ²⁵The men of Israel said, "Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes up to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to whoever kills him, give him his daughter, and exempt his father's family from service in Israel."

²⁶David asked the men beside him, "What does the man get who kills this Philistine and removes Israel's shame? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, to defy the armies of the living Father?"

²⁷The people repeated to him what would be done for the man who killed him.

²⁸When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he flared with anger at David. "Why did you come down? Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your pride and your evil heart—you came down just to watch the battle."

²⁹"What have I done now?" said David. "It was only a question." ³⁰He turned to another and asked the same, and the people answered him as before. ³¹David's words were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him. ³²David said to Saul, "Let no one's heart fail over him. Your servant will go fight this Philistine."

³³Saul said, "You can't fight this Philistine. You're just a boy, and he's been a warrior since his youth."

³⁴David told Saul, "Your servant tended his father's sheep. When a lion or bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵I chased it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I grabbed its mane, struck it, and killed it. ³⁶Your servant killed both lion and bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he defied the armies of the living Father." ³⁷David added, "Our Father, who saved me from the lion's paw and the bear's, will save me from this Philistine's hand." Saul said, "Go—may our Father be with you."

³⁸Then Saul dressed David in his own armor. He put a bronze helmet on his head and dressed him in a coat of armor. ³⁹David strapped the sword over the armor and tried to walk, but wasn't used to it. "I can't go in these," he told Saul, "I'm not used to them." So he took them off.

⁴⁰He took his staff, chose five smooth stones from the streambed, put them in his shepherd's bag pouch, and with sling in hand approached the Philistine. ⁴¹Meanwhile the Philistine, with his shield-bearer ahead of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴²The Philistine looked David over, saw he was just a boy—ruddy and handsome—and despised him. ⁴³He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" The Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴"Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and beasts of the field."

⁴⁵David told the Philistine, "You come at me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come at you in the name of the Father of heaven's armies, the Father of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶Today our Father will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I'll give the Philistine army's corpses to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, and all the earth will know there is our Father in Israel.

⁴⁷Everyone gathered here will know our Father saves without sword or spear; the battle belongs to our Father, and he will give you all into our hands."

⁴⁸As the Philistine moved to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹David reached into his bag, took a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. ⁵⁰So David overpowered the Philistine with a sling and a stone; with no sword in hand, he struck him down and killed him. ⁵¹David ran and stood over him. He took the Philistine's sword, drew it from its sheath, and killed him, cutting off his head with it. Seeing their hero dead, the Philistines fled.

⁵²Then the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and chased the Philistines to Gath's entrance and Ekron's gates. Philistine dead lay along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. ⁵⁴David took the Philistine's head to Jerusalem and put Goliath's weapons in his own tent. ⁵⁵Watching David go out to meet the Philistine, Saul asked Abner, his army commander, "Whose son is this young man, Abner?" "As you live, my king, I don't know," Abner answered.

⁵⁶"Find out whose son this young man is," the king said.

⁵⁷When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, the Philistine's head in his hand. ⁵⁸"Whose son are you, young man?" Saul asked. David said, "The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem."