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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1 Samuel 17: MEV
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Military Bible Association
I Samuel 17
17
David and Goliath
1Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at #Gen. 41:46; Prov. 22:29Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
4And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named #Josh. 15:35; 2 Chr. 28:18Goliath, from #2 Sam. 21:19Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. 8Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the #Josh. 11:21, 22servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and #1 Sam. 8:17serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, #1 Sam. 11:1“I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12Now David was #1 Sam. 17:26, 36, 45; 2 Sam. 21:21the son of that #Ruth 4:22; 1 Sam. 16:1, 18; 17:58Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had #Gen. 35:19eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul. 13The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The #1 Sam. 16:10, 11; 1 Chr. 2:13–15names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul. 15But David occasionally went and returned from Saul #1 Sam. 16:6, 8, 9; 1 Chr. 2:13to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.
17Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. 18And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and #1 Sam. 16:11, 19; 2 Sam. 7:8see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.” 19Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
20So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. 21For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. 22And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke #Gen. 37:13, 14according to the same words. So David heard them. 24And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. 25So the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, #1 Sam. 17:8–10will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.”
26Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away #Josh. 15:16the reproach from Israel? For who is this #1 Sam. 11:2uncircumcised Philistine, that he should #1 Sam. 14:6; 17:36; Jer. 9:25, 26defy the armies of #1 Sam. 17:10the living God?”
27And the people answered him in this manner, saying, #Deut. 5:26; 2 Kin. 19:4; Jer. 10:10“So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”
28Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s #1 Sam. 17:25anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”
29And David said, “What have I done now? #Gen. 37:4, 8–36; (Prov. 18:19; Matt. 10:36)Is there not a cause?” 30Then he turned from him toward another and #1 Sam. 17:17said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did.
31Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul; and he sent for him. 32Then David said to Saul, #1 Sam. 17:26, 27“Let no man’s heart fail because of him; #Deut. 20:1–4your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33And Saul said to David, #1 Sam. 16:18“You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a #Num. 13:31; Deut. 9:2lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37Moreover David said, #Judg. 14:5“The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, #(2 Cor. 1:10; 2 Tim. 4:17, 18)“Go, and the Lord be with you!”
38So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, 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.
40Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. 41So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he #1 Sam. 20:13; 1 Chr. 22:11, 16disdained him; for he was only a youth, #(Ps. 123:4; Prov. 16:18; 1 Cor. 1:27, 28)ruddy and good-looking. 43So the Philistine #1 Sam. 16:12said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44And the Philistine #1 Sam. 24:14; 2 Sam. 3:8; 9:8; 16:9; 2 Kin. 8:13said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. #1 Sam. 17:46; 1 Kin. 20:10, 11But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have #2 Sam. 22:33, 35; 2 Chr. 32:8; Ps. 124:8; (2 Cor. 10:4); Heb. 11:33, 34defied. 46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give #1 Sam. 17:10the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, #Deut. 28:26that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord #Josh. 4:24; 1 Kin. 8:43; 18:36; 2 Kin. 19:19; Is. 52:10does not save with sword and spear; for #1 Sam. 14:6; 2 Chr. 14:11; 20:15; Ps. 44:6; Hos. 1:7; Zech. 4:6the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
48So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and #2 Chr. 20:15ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a #Ps. 27:3sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his #Judg. 3:31; 15:15; 20:16sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, #1 Sam. 21:9; 2 Sam. 23:21they fled. 52Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to #Heb. 11:34Shaaraim, even as far as Gath and Ekron. 53Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents. 54And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
55When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to #Josh. 15:36Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, #1 Sam. 14:50whose son is this youth?”
And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.”
56So the king said, “Inquire whose son this young man is.”
57Then, as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul #1 Sam. 16:21, 22with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
So David answered, #1 Sam. 17:54“I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.