1 Samuel

¹The Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They set up camp between Sokoh and Azekah, at Ephes Dammim.

²Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up their battle line to face the Philistines.

³The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

⁴A champion named Goliath from Gath came out of the Philistine camp. He stood over nine feet tall.

⁵He wore a bronze helmet and a coat of scale armor that weighed about 125 pounds.

⁶He had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin slung across his back.

⁷His spear shaft was as thick as a weaver's beam, and the iron point of the spear weighed about fifteen pounds. His shield-bearer walked ahead of him.

⁸Goliath shouted to the Israelite battle lines, 'Why are you coming out to fight? I am a Philistine, and you are servants of Saul! Choose a man to come down and face me.'

⁹'If he can fight and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I overcome him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.'

¹⁰Then the Philistine said, 'I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man and let us settle this fight!'

¹¹When Saul and all the Israelites heard the Philistine's challenge, they were deeply shaken and terrified.

¹²Now David was the son of Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul's time he was very old.

¹³Jesse's three oldest sons had followed Saul into the army. Their names were Eliab the firstborn, then Abinadab, and then Shammah.

¹⁴David was the youngest. While the three oldest had gone with Saul into battle,

¹⁵David went back and forth between Saul's camp and Bethlehem to tend his father's sheep.

¹⁶For forty days, morning and evening, the Philistine came forward and presented himself.

¹⁷One day Jesse told his son David, 'Take your brothers this bushel of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and hurry to the camp.'

¹⁸'Also take these ten cheeses to the unit commander. Check on how your brothers are doing and bring back some news of them.'

¹⁹Saul and all the Israelite troops were in the valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.

²⁰David got up early the next morning, left the sheep with another shepherd, loaded up the supplies, and set out as Jesse had instructed. He arrived at the army's camp just as the troops were taking their battle positions and shouting the war cry.

²¹Both armies took up their positions facing each other.

²²David left his supplies with the man who kept the baggage, ran to the battle line, and went to greet his brothers.

²³As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped forward from the Philistine battle line and repeated his usual challenge. David heard it.

²⁴When the Israelite men saw Goliath, they all ran away in terror.

²⁵The soldiers had been saying, 'Do you see this giant? The king will give enormous wealth to the man who kills him and will give him his daughter in marriage. The king will also make his family tax-free in Israel.'

²⁶David asked the men standing nearby, 'What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who does this uncircumcised Philistine think he is, defying the armies of the living God?'

²⁷They told him what the reward was.

²⁸Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard David talking to the men and was furious with him. 'Why did you come down here? Who's minding those few sheep out in the desert? I know how arrogant you are and how wicked your heart is. You came down just to watch the battle.'

²⁹'What have I done now?' David replied. 'I was only asking a question!'

³⁰He turned away to someone else and asked the same question, and the people gave the same answer as before.

³¹What David said was reported to Saul, who sent for him.

³²David told Saul, 'No one should lose hope because of this Philistine. I will go and fight him.'

³³Saul replied, 'You are not able to go fight this Philistine. You are only a young man, and he has been a warrior since he was a boy.'

³⁴David said to Saul, 'I have been tending my father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,'

³⁵'I would chase it down, strike it, and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turned on me, I would grab it by the jaw, hit it, and kill it.'

³⁶'I have killed both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.'

³⁷David added, 'The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine.' Saul said to David, 'Go, and the LORD be with you.'

³⁸Then Saul dressed David in his own armor and put a bronze helmet on his head and put a coat of armor on him.

³⁹David strapped on the sword and tried walking around, but he couldn't manage because he had never worn armor before. He told Saul, 'I cannot walk in these — I'm not used to them.' So he took them off.

⁴⁰Instead, David picked up his shepherd's staff, went down to the stream, and chose five smooth stones. He put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and carried his sling in his hand. Then he walked out toward the Philistine.

⁴¹The Philistine, with his shield-bearer walking in front of him, kept coming closer toward David.

⁴²When Goliath got a good look at David, he was contemptuous — David was only a boy, healthy-looking and handsome.

⁴³He sneered at David, 'Am I a dog, that you come at me with a stick?' And the Philistine called down curses on David by his gods.

⁴⁴'Come over here,' the Philistine called out, 'and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!'

⁴⁵David replied, 'You come against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts — the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.'

⁴⁶'This day 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 army to the birds and the wild animals, so that the whole world will know there is a God in Israel.'

⁴⁷'Everyone gathered here will know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear. The battle belongs to the LORD, and he will hand all of you over to us.'

⁴⁸As the Philistine moved closer to attack, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.

⁴⁹Reaching into his bag, David took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank deep into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

⁵⁰David defeated the Philistine with just a sling and a stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him without a sword in his hand.

⁵¹David ran and stood over him. He grabbed Goliath's sword, pulled it from the sheath, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and fled.

⁵²The men of Israel and Judah shouted and charged forward, pursuing the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Philistine dead were strewn along the road from Shaaraim, all the way to Gath and Ekron.

⁵³When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

⁵⁴David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, though he kept the giant's weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵When Saul watched David go out against the Philistine, he asked his army commander Abner, 'Abner, whose son is that young man?' 'As surely as you live, O king, I don't know,' Abner replied.

⁵⁶The king said, 'Find out whose son he is.'

⁵⁷When David came back from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the Philistine's head still in his hand.

⁵⁸Saul asked him, 'Whose son are you, young man?' David replied, 'I am the son of your servant Jesse from Bethlehem.'