1 Samuel 17
17
David versus Goliath
1The Philistines#1Sm 13:5 gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh#2Ch 28:18 and Azekah#Jos 10:10 in Ephes-dammim.#1Ch 11:13 2Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah;#1Sm 21:9 then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.
3The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them. 4Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath,#2Sm 21:18–22; 1Ch 20:4–8 came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches#17:4 DSS, LXX read four cubits and a span; i.e., six and a half feet#17:4 Lit was six cubits and a span tall 5and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed one hundred twenty-five pounds.#17:5 Lit 5,000 shekels 6There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze javelin#1Sm 17:45 was slung between his shoulders. 7His spear shaft#2Sm 21:19; 1Ch 11:23 was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds.#17:7 Lit 600 shekels In addition, a shield-bearer#1Sm 17:41 was walking in front of him.
8He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations, “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul?#1Sm 8:17 Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. 9If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.”#2Sm 2:12–16 10Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today.#1Sm 17:26,36,45 Send me a man so we can fight each other!” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.
12Now David was the son of the Ephrathite#Gn 35:19 from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons#1Sm 16:10–11; 1Ch 2:13–15 and during Saul’s reign was already an old man. 13Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names#1Sm 16:6,8–9 were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third, 14and David was the youngest.#1Sm 16:11 The three oldest had followed Saul, 15but David kept going back and forth from Saul#1Sm 16:21–23 to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem.
16Every morning and evening for forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand. 17One day Jesse had told his son David, “Take this half-bushel#17:17 Lit this ephah of roasted grain along with these ten loaves of bread#1Sm 25:18 for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18Also take these ten portions of cheese to the field commander.#17:18 Lit the leader of 1,000 Check on the well-being of your brothers#Gn 37:13–14 and bring a confirmation from them. 19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.”
20So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had charged him.
He arrived at the perimeter of the camp#1Sm 26:5,7 as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry. 21Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other. 22David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster#Jdg 18:21; Is 10:28 and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were. 23While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words,#1Sm 17:8–10 which David heard. 24When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified.
25Previously, an Israelite man had declared, “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The king will make the man who kills him very rich and will give him his daughter.#Jos 15:16 The king will also make the family of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel.”#1Sm 8:11
26David spoke to the men who were standing with him: “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?#1Sm 11:2 Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine#1Sm 14:6; 17:36; Jr 9:25–26 that he should defy the armies#1Sm 17:10 of the living God?” #Dt 5:26; 2Kg 19:4
27The troops told him about the offer, concluding, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”#1Sm 17:25
28David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and he became angry with him.#Gn 37:4,8–36 “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart — you came down to see the battle!”
29“What have I done now?” protested David. “It was just a question.” 30Then he turned from those beside him to others in front of him and asked about the offer. The people gave him the same answer as before.#1Sm 17:26–27
31What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him. 32David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him;#Dt 20:1–4 your servant will go#1Sm 16:18 and fight this Philistine!”
33But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”
34David answered Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth.#Am 3:12 If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur,#17:35 LXX reads throat; lit beard strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”#2Tm 4:17–18
Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”#1Sm 20:13
38Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor. 39David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul, “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off. 40Instead, he took his staff in his hand#Jdg 20:16 and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pouch, in his shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
41The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him#Pr 16:18 because he was just a youth, healthy#17:42 Or ruddy#1Sm 16:12 and handsome. 43He said to David, “Am I a dog#1Sm 24:14 that you come against me with sticks?” #17:43 Some LXX mss add and stones?” And David said, “No! Worse than a dog!” Then he cursed David by his gods.#1Kg 20:10 44“Come here,” the Philistine called to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!” #1Sm 17:46
45David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel — you have defied him.#2Ch 32:7–8; Ps 124:8; Heb 11:34 46Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses#17:46 LXX reads give your limbs and the limbs of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God,#1Kg 18:36; 2Kg 19:19; Is 37:20 47and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves,#Hs 1:7 for the battle is the Lord’s.#Ex 14:13–14; Ps 33:16–22; 44:4–8 He will hand you over to us.”
48When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine.#Ps 27:3 49David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground. 50David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword. 51David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword,#1Sm 21:9 pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled.#Heb 11:34 52The men of Israel and Judah rallied, shouting their battle cry, and chased the Philistines to the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron.#17:52 LXX reads Ashkelon#Jos 15:11 Philistine bodies were strewn all along the Shaaraim road#Jos 15:36 to Gath and Ekron.
53When the Israelites returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 54David took Goliath’s#17:54 Lit the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
55 # 17:55 LXX omits 1Sm 17:55–18:5 When Saul had seen David going out to confront the Philistine, he asked Abner the commander of the army, “Whose son is this youth, Abner?” #1Sm 16:17–22; 17:25
“Your Majesty, as surely as you live, I don’t know,” Abner replied.
56The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is!”
57When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand.#1Sm 17:54 58Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
“The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,”#1Sm 17:12 David answered.
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1 Samuel 17: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Samuel 17
17
Goliath
1-3The Philistines drew up their troops for battle. They deployed them at Socoh in Judah, and set up camp between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. Saul and the Israelites came together, camped at Oak Valley, and spread out their troops in battle readiness for the Philistines. The Philistines were on one hill, the Israelites on the opposing hill, with the valley between them.
4-7A giant nearly ten feet tall stepped out from the Philistine line into the open, Goliath from Gath. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was dressed in armor—126 pounds of it! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail—the spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds. His shield bearer walked ahead of him.
8-10Goliath stood there and called out to the Israelite troops, “Why bother using your whole army? Am I not Philistine enough for you? And you’re all committed to Saul, aren’t you? So pick your best fighter and pit him against me. If he gets the upper hand and kills me, the Philistines will all become your slaves. But if I get the upper hand and kill him, you’ll all become our slaves and serve us. I challenge the troops of Israel this day. Give me a man. Let us fight it out together!”
11When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope.
12-15Enter David. He was the son of Jesse the Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse, the father of eight sons, was himself too old to join Saul’s army. Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the three sons who had joined up with Saul were Eliab, the firstborn; next, Abinadab; and third, Shammah. David was the youngest son. While his three oldest brothers went to war with Saul, David went back and forth from attending to Saul to tending his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16Each morning and evening for forty days, Goliath took his stand and made his speech.
17-19One day, Jesse told David his son, “Take this sack of cracked wheat and these ten loaves of bread and run them down to your brothers in the camp. And take these ten wedges of cheese to the captain of their division. Check in on your brothers to see whether they are getting along all right, and let me know how they’re doing—Saul and your brothers, and all the Israelites in their war with the Philistines in the Oak Valley.”
20-23David was up at the crack of dawn and, having arranged for someone to tend his flock, took the food and was on his way just as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the army was moving into battle formation, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines moved into position, facing each other, battle-ready. David left his bundles of food in the care of a sentry, ran to the troops who were deployed, and greeted his brothers. While they were talking together, the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, stepped out from the front lines of the Philistines, and gave his usual challenge. David heard him.
24-25The Israelites, to a man, fell back the moment they saw the giant—totally frightened. The talk among the troops was, “Have you ever seen anything like this, this man openly and defiantly challenging Israel? The man who kills the giant will have it made. The king will give him a huge reward, offer his daughter as a bride, and give his entire family a free ride.”
Five Smooth Stones
26David, who was talking to the men standing around him, asked, “What’s in it for the man who kills that Philistine and gets rid of this ugly blot on Israel’s honor? Who does he think he is, anyway, this uncircumcised Philistine, taunting the armies of God-Alive?”
27They told him what everyone was saying about what the king would do for the man who killed the Philistine.
28Eliab, his older brother, heard David fraternizing with the men and lost his temper: “What are you doing here! Why aren’t you minding your own business, tending that scrawny flock of sheep? I know what you’re up to. You’ve come down here to see the sights, hoping for a ringside seat at a bloody battle!”
29-30“What is it with you?” replied David. “All I did was ask a question.” Ignoring his brother, he turned to someone else, asked the same question, and got the same answer as before.
31The things David was saying were picked up and reported to Saul. Saul sent for him.
32“Master,” said David, “don’t give up hope. I’m ready to go and fight this Philistine.”
33Saul answered David, “You can’t go and fight this Philistine. You’re too young and inexperienced—and he’s been at this fighting business since before you were born.”
34-37David said, “I’ve been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I’d go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I’d grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it. Lion or bear, it made no difference—I killed it. And I’ll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive. God, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will deliver me from this Philistine.”
Saul said, “Go. And God help you!”
38-39Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge.
David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.
40Then David took his shepherd’s staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath.
41-42As the Philistine paced back and forth, his shield bearer in front of him, he noticed David. He took one look down on him and sneered—a mere boy, apple-cheeked and peach-fuzzed.
43The Philistine ridiculed David. “Am I a dog that you come after me with a stick?” And he cursed him by his gods.
44“Come on,” said the Philistine. “I’ll make roadkill of you for the buzzards. I’ll turn you into a tasty morsel for the field mice.”
45-47David answered, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!”
48-49That roused the Philistine, and he started toward David. David took off from the front line, running toward the Philistine. David reached into his pocket for a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine hard in the forehead, embedding the stone deeply. The Philistine crashed, facedown in the dirt.
50That’s how David beat the Philistine—with a sling and a stone. He hit him and killed him. No sword for David!
51Then David ran up to the Philistine and stood over him, pulled the giant’s sword from its sheath, and finished the job by cutting off his head. When the Philistines saw that their great champion was dead, they scattered, running for their lives.
52-54The men of Israel and Judah were up on their feet, shouting! They chased the Philistines all the way to the outskirts of Gath and the gates of Ekron. Wounded Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road all the way to Gath and Ekron. After chasing the Philistines, the Israelites came back and looted their camp. David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem. But the giant’s weapons he placed in his own tent.
* * *
55When Saul saw David go out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Tell me about this young man’s family.”
Abner said, “For the life of me, O King, I don’t know.”
56The king said, “Well, find out the lineage of this raw youth.”
57As soon as David came back from killing the Philistine, Abner brought him, the Philistine’s head still in his hand, straight to Saul.
58Saul asked him, “Young man, whose son are you?”
“I’m the son of your servant Jesse,” said David, “the one who lives in Bethlehem.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.