1 Samuel 17
17
Goliath Challenges the Israelites
1The Philistines now mustered their army for battle and camped between Socoh in Judah and Azekah at Ephes-dammim. 2Saul countered by gathering his Israelite troops near the valley of Elah. 3So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them.
4Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet#17:4 Hebrew 6 cubits and 1 span [which totals about 9.75 feet or 3 meters]; Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version read 4 cubits and 1 span [which totals about 6.75 feet or 2 meters]. tall! 5He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds.#17:5 Hebrew 5,000 shekels [57 kilograms]. 6He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. 7The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds.#17:7 Hebrew 600 shekels [6.8 kilograms]. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.
8Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! 9If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! 10I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” 11When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.
Jesse Sends David to Saul’s Camp
12Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. Jesse was an old man at that time, and he had eight sons. 13Jesse’s three oldest sons—Eliab, Abinadab, and Shimea#17:13 Hebrew Shammah, a variant spelling of Shimea; compare 1 Chr 2:13; 20:7.—had already joined Saul’s army to fight the Philistines. 14David was the youngest son. David’s three oldest brothers stayed with Saul’s army, 15but David went back and forth so he could help his father with the sheep in Bethlehem.
16For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.
17One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket#17:17 Hebrew ephah [20 quarts or 22 liters]. of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. 18And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.#17:18 Hebrew and take their pledge.” 19David’s brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.
20So David left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts, as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries. 21Soon the Israelite and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army. 22David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. 23As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel.
24As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright. 25“Have you seen the giant?” the men asked. “He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!”
26David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?”
27And these men gave David the same reply. They said, “Yes, that is the reward for killing him.”
28But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!”
29“What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!” 30He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer. 31Then David’s question was reported to King Saul, and the king sent for him.
David Kills Goliath
32“Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”
33“Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”
34But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, 35I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 36I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! 37The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”
Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!”
38Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. 39David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before.
“I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off again. 40He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.
41Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, 42sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. 43“Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. 44“Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.
45David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”
48As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. 49Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.
50So David triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone, for he had no sword. 51Then David ran over and pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head.
Israel Routs the Philistines
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran. 52Then the men of Israel and Judah gave a great shout of triumph and rushed after the Philistines, chasing them as far as Gath#17:52 As in some Greek manuscripts; Hebrew reads a valley. and the gates of Ekron. The bodies of the dead and wounded Philistines were strewn all along the road from Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron. 53Then the Israelite army returned and plundered the deserted Philistine camp. 54(David took the Philistine’s head to Jerusalem, but he stored the man’s armor in his own tent.)
55As Saul watched David go out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of his army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?”
“I really don’t know,” Abner declared.
56“Well, find out who he is!” the king told him.
57As soon as David returned from killing Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand. 58“Tell me about your father, young man,” Saul said.
And David replied, “His name is Jesse, and we live in Bethlehem.”
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1 Samuel 17: NLT
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1 Samuel 17
17
David and Goliath
1#Jos 15:35; 1Sa 13:5; 1Ch 11:13Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and were gathered at Sokoh, which belongs to Judah. And they camped between Sokoh and Azekah in Ephes Dammim. 2#1Sa 21:9; 17:19Saul and Israel’s fighting men were gathered, and they camped in the Valley of Elah. And they drew up in battle order to meet the Philistines. 3Now the Philistines were standing at the base of the mountain on the one side, and Israel was standing at the base of the mountain on the other side, and the valley was between them.
4#Jos 11:22There went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, Goliath was his name, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.#About 9 feet 9 inches, or 3 meters. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail. Now the weight of the bronze coat was five thousand shekels.#About 125 pounds, or 58 kilograms. 6#1Sa 17:45He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7#2Sa 21:19; 1Sa 17:41The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam. His iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels.#About 15 pounds, or 6.9 kilograms. And a shield-bearer was walking before him.
8#1Sa 8:17He stood and called out to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am not I the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose for yourselves a man and let him come down to me. 9#1Sa 11:1If he is able to fight with me and to strike me down, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, then you will be our servants and will serve us.” 10#1Sa 17:45; 2Sa 21:21The Philistine said, “I defy the battle lines of Israel this day. Give me a man, and let us fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were filled with terror and were greatly afraid.
12#Ge 35:19; 1Sa 16:18Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse, who had eight sons. And the man was old in the days of Saul and advanced in years. 13#1Ch 2:13The three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. 14#1Sa 16:11As for David, he was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, 15#1Sa 16:11but David would go back and forth from Saul to shepherd his father’s flock in Bethlehem.
16The Philistine stepped forward morning and evening and took his stand daily for forty days.
17#1Sa 25:18Then Jesse said to David his son, “Take now for your brothers an ephah#Likely about 36 pounds, or 16 kilograms. of this parched grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to your brothers. 18#Ge 37:14; 1Sa 16:20Carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and look into your brothers’ health, and bring back news of them.” 19Now Saul, and they, and all Israel’s fighting men were in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.
20#1Sa 26:5So David rose up early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper. And he carried away the food and went as Jesse had commanded him. And when he came to the encampment, the army was going out to the battle line, and they shouted a war cry. 21And Israel and the Philistines ordered themselves in battle lines, army against army. 22David left his things with the keeper of the equipment, and he ran to the battle line. And he went and greeted his brothers. 23As he was speaking with them, the champion, Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was going up from the battle line of the Philistines. And he spoke these same words and David heard them. 24When all Israel’s fighting men saw the man, they fled from him, and were very afraid.
25#Jos 15:16The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel, and it will be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, will give him his daughter, and will make his father’s house exempt from taxes in Israel.”
26#Dt 5:26; 1Sa 11:2David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying, “What will be done for the man that kills this Philistine and takes away this reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27And the people answered him in the same way, saying, “So will it be done to the man who kills him.”
28#Ge 37:4; 37:8Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the evil of your heart. For you have come down that you might see the battle.”
29David said, “What have I done now? Was it not only a word?” 30#1Sa 17:26–27And he turned from him toward another and spoke in the same way. And the people answered him again as at the first. 31When the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul and he sent for him.
32#1Sa 16:18; Dt 20:1–3David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33#Nu 13:31Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. For you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
34David said to Saul, “Your servant was a shepherd for my father’s flock, and the lion came and the bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. 35#Am 3:12And I went out after him, and struck him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I took hold of his beard, struck him, and killed him. 36#1Sa 17:10; 17:26Your servant slew both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine will be as one of them, because he has reviled the armies of the living God.” 37#1Sa 20:13; 1Ch 22:11David said, “The 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 Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
38Saul clothed David with his armor. And he put a helmet of bronze on his head. He also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39David secured his sword to his armor and tried to walk, but he was not used to it, for he had not tested them.
And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. 40#Jdg 20:16He took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook. And he put them in his shepherd’s bag, even in a pouch. And his sling was in his hand. Then he drew near to the Philistine.
41The Philistine came walking and drew near to David, and the man bearing the shield went before him. 42#1Sa 16:12; Ps 123:3–4When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him. For he was a youth and ruddy with a handsome appearance. 43#1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 3:8The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44#1Ki 20:10–11The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the field.”
45#2Ch 32:8; 1Sa 17:10Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have reviled. 46#Dt 28:26; Jos 4:24This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand. And I will strike you down and cut off your head. Then I will give the corpses of the Philistine camp this day to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47#Hos 1:7; Zec 4:6And then all this assembly will know that it is not by sword and spear that the Lord saves. For the battle belongs to the Lord, and He will give you into our hands.”
48When the Philistine arose and came near to meet David, David hurried and ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49David put his hand in his bag and took from there a stone. And he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead. Therefore the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the ground.
50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone. And he struck down the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David.
51#1Sa 21:9; Heb 11:34Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine. Then he took his sword and drew it from out of its sheath, and he finished him off and he cut off his head with it.
When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. 52#Jos 15:11And the fighting men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted. And they pursued the Philistines from the entrance of the Valley of Elah as far as the gates of Ekron. So the Philistine dead lay slain on the road to Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53Then the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines and they plundered their tents.
54David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
55#1Sa 16:21–22When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Whose son is this youth, Abner?”
And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.”
56The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is.”
57So when David returned from slaying the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand.
58#1Sa 17:12Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
And David answered, “I am the son of your servant, Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
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