1 Samuel 17
17
David and Goliath
1The Philistines gathered their armies for war. They met at Socoh in Judah and camped at Ephes Dammim between Socoh and Azekah. 2Saul and the Israelites gathered in the Valley of Elah and camped there and took their positions to fight the Philistines. 3The Philistines controlled one hill while the Israelites controlled another. The valley was between them.
4The Philistines had a champion fighter from Gath named Goliath. He was about nine feet, four inches tall. He came out of the Philistine camp 5with a bronze helmet on his head and a coat of bronze armor that weighed about one hundred twenty-five pounds. 6He wore bronze protectors on his legs, and he had a bronze spear on his back. 7The wooden part of his larger spear was like a weaver’s rod, and its blade weighed about fifteen pounds. The officer who carried his shield walked in front of him.
8Goliath stood and shouted to the Israelite soldiers, “Why have you taken positions for battle? I am a Philistine, and you are Saul’s servants! Choose a man and send him to fight me. 9If he can fight and kill me, we will be your servants. But if I can kill him, you will be our servants.” 10Then he said, “Today I stand and dare the army of Israel! Send one of your men to fight me!” 11When Saul and the Israelites heard the Philistine’s words, they were very scared.
12Now David was the son of Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons. In Saul’s time Jesse was an old man. 13His three oldest sons followed Saul to the war. The first son was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. 14David was the youngest. Jesse’s three oldest sons followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to Bethlehem, where he took care of his father’s sheep.
16For forty days the Philistine came out every morning and evening and stood before the Israelite army.
17Jesse said to his son David, “Take this half bushel of cooked grain and ten loaves of bread to your brothers in the camp. 18Also take ten pieces of cheese to the commander and to your brothers. See how your brothers are and bring back some proof to show me that they are all right. 19Your brothers are with Saul and the army in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
20Early in the morning David left the sheep with another shepherd. He took the food and left as Jesse had told him. When David arrived at the camp, the army was going out to their battle positions, shouting their war cry. 21The Israelites and Philistines were lining up their men to face each other in battle.
22David left the food with the man who kept the supplies and ran to the battle line to talk to his brothers. 23While he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out. He shouted things against Israel as usual, and David heard him. 24When the Israelites saw Goliath, they were very much afraid and ran away.
25They said, “Look at this man! He keeps coming out to challenge Israel. The king will give much money to whoever kills him. He will also let whoever kills him marry his daughter. And his father’s family will not have to pay taxes in Israel.”
26David asked the men who stood near him, “What will be done to reward the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the shame from Israel? Who does this uncircumcised Philistine think he is? Does he think he can speak against the armies of the living God?”
27The Israelites told David what would be done for the man who would kill Goliath.
28When David’s oldest brother Eliab heard David talking with the soldiers, he was angry with David. He asked David, “Why did you come here? Who’s taking care of those few sheep of yours in the desert? I know you are proud and wicked at heart. You came down here just to watch the battle.”
29David asked, “Now what have I done wrong? Can’t I even talk?” 30When he turned to other people and asked the same questions, they gave him the same answer as before. 31Yet what David said was told to Saul, and he sent for David.
32David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged. I, your servant, will go and fight this Philistine!”
33Saul answered, “You can’t go out against this Philistine and fight him. You’re only a boy. Goliath has been a warrior since he was a young man.”
34But David said to Saul, “I, your servant, have been keeping my father’s sheep. When a lion or bear came and took a sheep from the flock, 35I would chase it. I would attack it and save the sheep from its mouth. When it attacked me, I caught it by its fur and hit it and killed it. 36I, your servant, have killed both a lion and a bear! This uncircumcised Philistine will be like them, because he has spoken against the armies of the living God. 37The Lord who saved me from a lion and a bear will save me from this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” 38Saul put his own clothes on David. He put a bronze helmet on his head and dressed him in armor. 39David put on Saul’s sword and tried to walk around, but he was not used to all the armor Saul had put on him.
He said to Saul, “I can’t go in this, because I’m not used to it.” Then David took it all off. 40He took his stick in his hand and chose five smooth stones from a stream. He put them in his shepherd’s bag and grabbed his sling. Then he went to meet the Philistine.
41At the same time, the Philistine was coming closer to David. The man who held his shield walked in front of him. 42When Goliath looked at David and saw that he was only a boy, tanned and handsome, he looked down on David with disgust. 43He said, “Do you think I am a dog, that you come at me with a stick?” He used his gods’ names to curse David. 44He said to David, “Come here. I’ll feed your body to the birds of the air and the wild animals!”
45But David said to him, “You come to me using a sword and two spears. But I come to you in the name of the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the armies of Israel! You have spoken against him. 46Today the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll kill you and cut off your head. Today I’ll feed the bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds of the air and the wild animals. Then all the world will know there is a God in Israel! 47Everyone gathered here will know the Lord does not need swords or spears to save people. The battle belongs to him, and he will hand you over to us.”
48As Goliath came near to attack him, David ran quickly to meet him. 49He took a stone from his bag, put it into his sling, and slung it. The stone hit the Philistine and went deep into his forehead, and Goliath fell facedown on the ground.
50So David defeated the Philistine with only a sling and a stone. He hit him and killed him. He did not even have a sword in his hand. 51Then David ran and stood beside him. He took Goliath’s sword out of its holder and killed him by cutting off his head.
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran. 52The men of Israel and Judah shouted and chased the Philistines all the way to the entrance of the city of Gath and to the gates of Ekron.
The Philistines’ bodies lay on the Shaaraim road as far as Gath and Ekron. 53The Israelites returned after chasing the Philistines and robbed their camp. 54David took Goliath’s head to Jerusalem and put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
55When Saul saw David go out to meet Goliath, Saul asked Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, who is that young man’s father?”
Abner answered, “As surely as you live, my king, I don’t know.”
56The king said, “Find out whose son he is.”
57When David came back from killing Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul. David was still holding Goliath’s head.
58Saul asked him, “Young man, who is your father?”
David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
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1 Samuel 17: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Samuel 17
17
1 Samuel 17
1¶ 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.
2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched camp by the valley of Elah and ordered the battle against the Philistines.
3And 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.
4And 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.
5And 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.
6And he had greaves of brass upon his legs and a shield of brass between his shoulders.
7And 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.
8And 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.
9If 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.
10And the Philistine said, I have dishonoured the ranks of Israel today; give me a man that we may fight together.
11When 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.
13And 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.
14And David was the youngest, the three eldest having gone after Saul.
15But David had gone and returned from being with Saul to feed his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16And the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself for forty days.
17And 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
18and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand and look how thy brethren fare and take their pledge.
19Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.
20And 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.
21For Israel and the Philistines had ordered the battle, army against army.
22And 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.
23And 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.
24And all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and feared greatly.
25And 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.
26Then 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?
27And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that overcomes him.
28And 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.
29And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
30And 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.
32And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy slave will go and fight with this Philistine.
33And 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.
34And 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,
35I 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.
36Whether 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.
37David 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.
38And 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.
39And 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.
41And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David, and the man that bore the shield went before him.
42And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance.
43And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44And 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.
45Then 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.
46This 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.
47And 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.
49And 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.
50So 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.
51Therefore 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.
52And 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.
53And the sons of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents.
54And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.
55And 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.
56And the king said, Enquire whose son the young man is.
57And 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.
58And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy slave Jesse of Bethlehem.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International