1 Samuel 17
17
David kills Goliath
Goliath challenges Israel's army
1The Philistines got ready for war and brought their troops together to attack the town of Socoh in Judah. They set up camp at Ephes-Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.#17.1 Socoh and Azekah: Socoh was controlled by the Israelites, while Azekah was in Philistine hands. 2-3King Saul and the Israelite army set up camp on a hill overlooking Elah Valley, and they got ready to fight the Philistine army that was on a hill on the other side of the valley.
4The Philistine army had a hero named Goliath who was from the town of Gath and was about three metres#17.4 about three metres: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls and some manuscripts of one ancient translation have “about two metres.” tall. 5-6He wore a bronze helmet and had bronze armour to protect his chest and legs. The chest armour alone weighed about fifty-seven kilogrammes. He carried a bronze sword strapped on his back, 7and his spear was so big that the iron spearhead alone weighed about seven kilogrammes. A soldier always walked in front of Goliath to carry his shield.
8Goliath went out and shouted to the army of Israel:
Why are you lining up for battle? I'm the best soldier in our army, and all of you are in Saul's army. Choose your best soldier to come out and fight me! 9If he can kill me, our people will be your slaves. But if I kill him, your people will be our slaves. 10Here and now I challenge Israel's whole army! Choose someone to fight me!
11Saul and his men heard what Goliath said, but they were so frightened of Goliath that they couldn't do a thing.
David meets King Saul
12David's father Jesse was an old man, who belonged to the Ephrath clan and lived in Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons: 13-14the eldest was Eliab, the next was Abinadab, and Shammah was the third. The three of them had gone off to fight in Saul's army.
David was Jesse's youngest son. 15He took care of his father's sheep, and he went back and forth between Bethlehem and Saul's camp.
16Goliath came out and gave his challenge every morning and every evening for forty days.
17One day, Jesse told David, “Hurry and take this sack of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers at the army camp. 18And here are ten large chunks of cheese to take to their commanding officer. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back something that shows that they're all right. 19They're with Saul's army, fighting the Philistines in Elah Valley.”
20David obeyed his father. He got up early the next morning and left someone else in charge of the sheep; then he loaded the supplies and started off. He reached the army camp just as the soldiers were taking their places and shouting the battle cry. 21The army of Israel and the Philistine army stood there facing each other.
22David left his things with the man in charge of supplies and ran up to the battle line to ask his brothers if they were well. 23While David was talking with them, Goliath came out from the line of Philistines and started boasting as usual. David heard him.
24When the Israelite soldiers saw Goliath, they were scared and ran off. 25They said to each other, “Look how he keeps coming out to insult us. The king is offering a big reward to the man who kills Goliath. That man will even get to marry the king's daughter, and no one in his family will ever have to pay taxes again.”
26David asked some soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and stopping him from insulting our people? Who does that worthless Philistine think he is? He's making fun of the army of the living God!”
27The soldiers told David what the king would give the man who killed Goliath.
28David's eldest brother Eliab heard him talking with the soldiers. Eliab was angry with him and said, “What are you doing here, anyway? Who's taking care of that little flock of sheep out in the desert? You spoilt brat! You came here just to watch the fighting, didn't you?”
29“Now what have I done?” David answered. “Can't I even ask a question?” 30Then he turned and asked another soldier the same thing he had asked the others, and he got the same answer.
31Some soldiers overheard David talking, so they told Saul what David had said. Saul sent for David, and David came. 32“Your Majesty,” he said, “this Philistine shouldn't turn us into cowards. I'll go out and fight him myself!”
33“You don't have a chance against him,” Saul replied. “You're only a boy, and he's been a soldier all his life.”
34But David told him:
Your Majesty, I take care of my father's sheep. And when one of them is dragged off by a lion or a bear, 35I go after it and beat the wild animal until it lets the sheep go. If the wild animal turns and attacks me, I grab it by the throat and kill it.
36Sir, I have killed lions and bears that way, and I can kill this worthless Philistine. He shouldn't have made fun of the army of the living God! 37The LORD has rescued me from the claws of lions and bears, and he will keep me safe from the hands of this Philistine.
“All right,” Saul answered, “go ahead and fight him. And I hope the LORD will help you.”
38Saul had his own military clothes and armour put on David, and he gave David a bronze helmet to wear. 39David strapped on a sword and tried to walk around, but he was not used to wearing those things.
“I can't move with all this stuff on,” David said. “I'm just not used to it.”
David took off the armour 40and picked up his shepherd's stick. He went out to a stream and picked up five smooth stones and put them in his leather bag. Then with his sling in his hand, he went straight towards Goliath.
David kills Goliath
41Goliath came towards David, walking behind the soldier who was carrying his shield. 42When Goliath saw that David was just a healthy, good-looking boy, he made fun of him. 43“Do you think I'm a dog?” Goliath asked. “Is that why you've come after me with a stick?” He cursed David in the name of the Philistine gods 44and shouted, “Come on! When I'm finished with you, I'll feed you to the birds and wild animals!”
45David answered:
You've come out to fight me with a sword and a spear and a dagger. But I've come out to fight you in the name of the LORD All-Powerful. He is the God of Israel's army, and you have insulted him too!
46Today the LORD will help me defeat you. I'll knock you down and cut off your head, and I'll feed the bodies of the other Philistine soldiers to the birds and wild animals. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a real God. 47Everybody here will see that the LORD doesn't need swords or spears to save his people. The LORD always wins his battles, and he will help us defeat you.
48When Goliath started forward, David ran towards him. 49He put a stone in his sling and swung the sling around by its straps. When he let go of one strap, the stone flew out and hit Goliath on the forehead. It cracked his skull, and he fell face down on the ground. 50David defeated Goliath with a sling and a stone. He killed him without even using a sword.#2 S 21.19.
51David ran over and pulled out Goliath's sword. Then he used it to cut off Goliath's head.#1 S 21.9.
When the Philistines saw what had happened to their hero, they started running away. 52But the soldiers of Israel and Judah let out a battle cry and went after them as far as Gath#17.52 Gath: One ancient translation; Hebrew “a valley”. and Ekron. The bodies of the Philistines were scattered all along the road from Shaaraim to Gath and Ekron.
53When the Israelite army returned from chasing the Philistines, they took what they wanted from the enemy camp. 54David took Goliath's head to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath's weapons in his own tent.
David becomes one of Saul's officers
55After King Saul had watched David go out to fight Goliath, Saul turned to the commander of his army and said, “Abner, who is that young man?”
“Your Majesty,” Abner answered, “I swear by your life that I don't know.”
56“Then find out!” Saul told him.
57When David came back from fighting Goliath, he was still carrying Goliath's head.
Abner took David to Saul, 58and Saul asked, “Who are you?”
“I am David the son of Jesse, a loyal Israelite from Bethlehem.”
Currently Selected:
1 Samuel 17: CEVUK
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
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.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com