1 Samuel 17
17
1The Philistine armies gathered for battle at Socoh in Judah. They set up camp between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. 2Saul and the Israelites gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah and took up their positions to engage in battle with the Philistines. 3The Philistines were on one hill and the Israelites on another with the valley between them.
4Then a champion#17:4. “Champion”: literally “a man of the space between.” This is usually taken to mean a champion who will fight another in a kind of proxy battle, but its precise meaning is uncertain as it only occurs here and in verse 23 in the whole of the Old Testament. came out of the Philistine camp. His name was Goliath from Gath, and he was six cubits and a span tall.#17:4. “Six cubits and a span tall.” This is equivalent to around nine and a half feet. The Septuagint and a manuscript from Qumran have four cubits and a span, equivalent to six and a half feet. 5He had on his head a bronze helmet and he wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels. 6On his legs he wore bronze armor, and he carried a javelin#17:6. “Javelin”: some believe this was more likely a curved sword or scimitar, and certainly a sword is referenced in verse 51. slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was as thick as weaver's beam, with an iron tip that weighed six hundred shekels. His shield-bearer walked ahead of him carrying his shield.#17:7. “Carrying his shield”: added for clarity.
8Goliath stood and shouted at the lines of Israelite soldiers, “Why have you come and lined for battle? I am the Philistine, and you're Saul's servants. Pick one of your men and have him come down and fight me. 9If he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your slaves. But if I beat him and kill him, then you'll be our slaves and work for us.”
10Then the Philistine said, “I mock the battle lines of Israel today! Give me a man so we can fight each other!”
11Saul and all the Israelite soldiers were shattered and absolutely terrified when they heard what the Philistine said.
12David was the son of a man named Jesse. He was an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons. At the time Saul was king, Jesse was very old. 13Jesse's three oldest sons had joined Saul's army. These were Eliab (the firstborn), Abinadab (second), and Shammah (third). 14David was the youngest. The three oldest were with Saul, 15while David went to Saul and then back again to look after his father's sheep.
16Every morning and evening for forty days the Philistine came out to take his stand.
17Jesse told his son David, “Please take your brothers this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers. Take them quickly to your brothers' camp. 18Take these ten cheese pieces to their commander. Check carefully to see how your brothers are doing and bring back their news.” 19They were with Saul and the whole Israelite army in the Valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.
20David got up early in the morning and left the flock with a shepherd. He took the supplies and set out as Jesse had told him to. He arrived at the camp just as the army was marching out to its battle line, shouting the war cry. 21The Israelites took up their battle line and the Philistines took up their battle line on the opposite side. 22David left his supplies with the one responsible and ran to the battle line. When he got there he asked his brothers how they were. 23While he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came up out of his lines and shouted his challenge as he had before, and David heard what he said.
24All the Israelite soldiers ran away when they saw him because they were terribly afraid. 25“Have you seen this man who keeps on coming out to mock Israel?” they asked. “The king will make the man who kills him really rich. He will also give him his daughter in marriage, and his family will live tax-free in Israel.”
26David asked the men who were standing beside him, “What will the man receive who kills this Philistine and removes this shame from Israel? Who does this heathen#17:26. “Heathen”: literally, “uncircumcised.” Also verse 36. Philistine think he is, mocking the armies of the living God?”
27The soldiers repeated what they had said, telling him, “This is what the man who kills him will receive.”
28When David's oldest brother Eliab heard him talking with the men, he got angry with him. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Whom have you left those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know how proud and wicked you are! You've just come to watch the battle!”
29“What have I done now?” David asked. “Can't I even ask a question?” 30He went over to some others and asked the same question, and they gave the same answer as before. 31Someone overheard what David said and reported it to Saul who sent for him.
32David told Saul, “No one should lose heart because of this Philistine. I, your servant, will go and fight him!”
33“You can't go out and fight this Philistine,” Saul replied. “You're just a boy, and he's a warrior trained from his youth.”
34David replied, “Your servant has been looking after his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35I would chase after it, knock it down, and save the lamb from its mouth. If it turned to attack me, I would grab its hair, hit it, and kill it. 36I have killed lions and bears, and this heathen Philistine will be just like one of them, for he has mocked the armies of the living God.”
37David concluded, “The Lord who saved me from the claws of the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine.”
“Go, and may the Lord be with you,” Saul responded.
38Saul gave David his own battle clothes to wear, placed a bronze helmet on his head, and put armor on him. 39David strapped his sword on over the armor but he couldn't walk because he wasn't used to it.
“I can't walk in all this,” David told Saul. “I'm not used to it.” So David took all the armor off. 40He picked up his stick, chose five smooth stones from the stream, and put them in his shepherd's bag. Carrying his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
41The Philistine came towards David, closer and closer, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42When the Philistine looked closely he could see that David was just a red-faced handsome youth, and so he treated David with contempt.
43“Do you think I'm a dog, coming to fight me with a stick?” the Philistine asked David, and he cursed David by his gods. 44Then the Philistine shouted at David, “Come over here, and I'll feed your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.”
45David replied to the Philistine, “You come to attack me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin. But I come to attack you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel—the one you have mocked. 46Today the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the dead bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds and the wild animals. Then all the world will know that there is a God who acts for Israel. 47Everyone gathered here will realize that the Lord saves, but not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will hand all of you over to us.”
48As the Philistine moved forward to attack him, David raced toward the battle line to confront him. 49David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and fired it from his sling, hitting the Philistine on the forehead. The stone went into his forehead, and he collapsed facedown on the ground.
50This is how David defeated the Philistine with just a sling and a stone; with no sword in his hand David knocked the Philistine down and killed him. 51David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took the Philistine's sword and pulled it out of its sheath. He killed him and then he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran away.
52Then the men of Israel and Judah rushed forward shouting the war cry and chased the Philistines all the way to Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their bodies were scattered along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
53When the Israelites returned from their hot pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 54David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put the Philistine's weapons in his own tent.
55When Saul had watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he'd asked Abner the army commander, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”
“On your life, Your Majesty, I do not know,” Abner replied.
56“Find out whose son this young man is,” the king ordered.
57As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. David was still clutching the Philistine's head in his hand.
58“Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked.
“I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.
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1 Samuel 17: FBV
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
1 Samuel 17
17
Goliath Challenges Israel
1The Philistines gathered their armies together for war. They met at Socoh in Judah. Their camp was between Socoh and Azekah, at a town called Ephes Dammim.
2Saul and the Israelite soldiers also gathered together. Their camp was in the Valley of Elah. Saul’s soldiers were lined up and ready to fight the Philistines. 3The Philistines were on one hill. The Israelites were on the other hill. The valley was between them.
4The Philistines had a champion fighter named Goliath, who was from Gath. He was over 9 feet#17:4 over 9 feet Literally, “6 cubits and 1 span” (2.9 m). Josephus, most copies of the ancient Greek version, and a Hebrew scroll from Qumran all have “4 cubits and 1 span.” This is 6' 6" (2 m) for the short cubit or 7' 7" (2.33 m) for the long cubit. tall. Goliath came out of the Philistine camp. 5He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a coat of armor that was made like the scales on a fish. This armor was made of bronze and weighed about 125 pounds.#17:5 125 pounds Literally, “5000 shekels” (57.5 kg). 6Goliath wore bronze protectors on his legs. He had a bronze javelin tied on his back. 7The wooden part of his spear was as big as a weaver’s rod. The spear’s blade weighed 15 pounds.#17:7 15 pounds Literally, “600 shekels” (6.9 kg). Goliath’s helper walked in front of him, carrying Goliath’s shield.
8Each day Goliath would come out and shout a challenge to the Israelite soldiers. He would say, “Why are all of your soldiers lined up ready for battle? You are Saul’s servants. I am a Philistine. So choose one man and send him to fight me. 9If that man kills me, he wins and we Philistines will become your slaves. But if I kill your man, then I win, and you will become our slaves. You will have to serve us.”
10The Philistine also said, “Today I stand and make fun of the army of Israel. I dare you to send me one of your men and let us fight.”
11Saul and the Israelite soldiers heard what Goliath said, and they were very afraid.
David Goes to the Battle Front
12 # 17:12 The oldest copies of the ancient Greek version do not have 17:12-31, 41, 48b, 50, 55-58; 18:1-5, 10-11, 17-19, 29b-30. David was the son of Jesse. Jesse was from the Ephrathah family in Bethlehem, Judah. Jesse had eight sons. In Saul’s time Jesse was an old man. 13Jesse’s three oldest sons went with Saul to the war. The first son was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. 14David was the youngest son. The three oldest sons were in Saul’s army, 15but David left Saul from time to time to take care of his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16The Philistine came out every morning and evening and stood before the Israelite army. Goliath insulted Israel like this for 40 days.
17One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this basket#17:17 basket Literally, “ephah.” of cooked grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers in the camp. 18Also take these ten pieces of cheese for the officer who commands your brothers’ group of 1000 soldiers. See how your brothers are doing. Bring back something to show me your brothers are all right. 19Your brothers are with Saul and all the Israelite soldiers in the Valley of Elah. They are there to fight against the Philistines.”
20Early in the morning, David had another shepherd take care of the sheep while he took the food and left as Jesse had told him to. David drove their wagon to the camp. The soldiers were going out to their battle positions just as David arrived. The soldiers began shouting their war cry. 21The Israelites and Philistines were lined up and ready for battle.
22David left the food with the man who kept supplies. Then he ran to the place where the Israelite soldiers were and asked about his brothers. 23While David was talking with his brothers, the Philistine champion fighter came out from the Philistine army. This was Goliath, the Philistine from Gath. Goliath shouted things against Israel as usual. David heard what he said.
24The Israelite soldiers saw Goliath and ran away. They were all afraid of him. 25One of the Israelite men said, “Did you see that man? Look at him! He comes out each day and makes fun of Israel. Whoever kills him will get rich. King Saul will give him a lot of money. Saul will also let his daughter marry the man who kills Goliath. He will also make that man’s family free from taxes in Israel.”
26David asked the men standing near him, “What did he say? What is the reward for killing this Philistine and taking away this shame from Israel? Who is this Goliath anyway? He is only some foreigner,#17:26 foreigner Literally, “uncircumcised.” This means a person who did not share in the agreement God made with Israel. See “circumcise, circumcision” in the Word List. Also in verse 36. nothing but a Philistine. Why does he think he can speak against the army of the living God?”
27So the Israelite told David about the reward for killing Goliath. 28David’s oldest brother Eliab heard David talking with the soldiers and became angry. Eliab asked David, “Why did you come here? Who did you leave those few sheep with in the desert? I know why you came down here. You didn’t want to do what you were told to do. You just wanted to come down here to watch the battle.”
29David said, “What did I do now? I didn’t do anything wrong! I was only talking.” 30He turned to some other people and asked them the same questions. They gave him the same answers as before.
31Some men heard David talking. They took David to Saul and told him what David had said. 32David said to Saul, “People shouldn’t let Goliath discourage them. I am your servant. I will go fight this Philistine.”
33Saul answered, “You can’t go out and fight against this Philistine. You’re not even a soldier!#17:33 You’re not even a soldier Or “You are only a boy!” The Hebrew word for “boy” often means “servant” or “the helper who carries a soldier’s weapons.” Goliath has been fighting in wars since he was a boy.”
34But David said to Saul, “There were times when I was taking care of my father’s sheep that wild animals came to take some sheep from the flock. Once there was a lion and another time, a bear. 35I chased that wild animal, attacked it, and took the sheep from its mouth. The wild animal jumped on me, but I caught it by the fur under its mouth. And I hit it and killed it. 36I killed both a lion and a bear like that! And I will kill that foreigner, Goliath, just like them. Goliath will die because he made fun of the army of the living God. 37The Lord saved me from the lion and the bear. He will also 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 David’s head and armor on his body. 39David put on the sword and tried to walk around. He tried to wear Saul’s uniform, but David was not used to all those heavy things.
David said to Saul, “I can’t fight in these things. I’m not used to them.” So David took them all off. 40He took his walking stick in his hand and went to find five smooth stones from the stream. He put the five stones in his shepherd’s bag and held his sling in his hand. Then he went out to meet the Philistine.
David Kills Goliath
41The Philistine slowly walked closer and closer to David. Goliath’s helper walked in front of him, carrying a large shield. 42Goliath looked at David with disgust. He saw that David was only a handsome, healthy#17:42 healthy The Hebrew word means “red,” “ruddy,” or “red-haired.” boy.#17:42 boy Or “teenager” or “soldier’s helper.” 43Goliath said to David, “What is that stick for? Did you come to chase me away like a dog?” Then Goliath used the names of his gods to say curses against David. 44He said to David, “Come here, and I’ll feed your body to the birds and wild animals.”
45David said to the Philistine, “You come to me using sword, spear, and javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the armies of Israel. You have said bad things about him. 46Today the Lord will let me defeat you. I will kill you. I will cut off your head and feed your body to the birds and wild animals. And we will do the same thing to all the other Philistines too. Then all the world will know there is a God in Israel. 47All the people gathered here will know that the Lord doesn’t need swords or spears to save people. The battle belongs to the Lord, and he will help us defeat all of you.”
48Goliath the Philistine started to attack David. He slowly walked closer and closer toward David, but David ran out to meet Goliath.
49David took out a stone from his bag. He put it in his sling and swung the sling. The stone flew from the sling and hit Goliath right between the eyes. The stone sank deep into his head, and Goliath fell to the ground—face down.
50So David defeated the Philistine with only a sling and one stone! He hit the Philistine and killed him. David didn’t have a sword, 51so he ran and stood beside the Philistine. Then David took Goliath’s own sword out of its sheath and used it to cut off his head. That is how David killed the Philistine.
When the other Philistines saw their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52The soldiers of Israel and Judah shouted and started chasing the Philistines. The Israelites chased them all the way to the city limits of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. They killed many of the Philistines. Their bodies were scattered along the Shaaraim road all the way to Gath and Ekron. 53After chasing the Philistines, the Israelites came back to the Philistine camp and took many things from that camp.
54David took the Philistine’s head to Jerusalem, but he kept the Philistine’s weapons at home.
Saul Begins to Fear David
55Saul watched David go out to fight Goliath. Saul spoke to Abner, the commander of the army. “Abner, who is that young man’s father?”
Abner answered, “I swear I don’t know, sir.”
56King Saul said, “Find out who his father is.”
57When David came back after killing Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul. David was still holding the Philistine’s head.
58Saul asked him, “Young man, who is your father?”
David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse, from Bethlehem.”
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