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.”
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1 Samuel 17: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
1 Samuel 17
17
1And the Philistines gather their camps to battle, and are gathered to Shochoh, which [is] to Judah, and encamp between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-Dammim;
2and Saul and the men of Israel have been gathered, and encamp by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array to meet the Philistines.
3And the Philistines are standing on the mountain on this side, and the Israelites are standing on the mountain on that side, and the valley [is] between them.
4And there goeth out a man of the duellists from the camps of the Philistines, Goliath [is] his name, from Gath; his height [is] six cubits and a span,
5and a helmet of brass [is] on his head, and [with] a scaled coat of mail he [is] clothed, and the weight of the coat of mail [is] five thousand shekels of brass,
6and a frontlet of brass [is] on his feet, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders,
7and the wood of his spear [is] like a beam of weavers', and the flame of his spear [is] six hundred shekels of iron, and the bearer of the buckler is going before him.
8And he standeth and calleth unto the ranks of Israel, and saith to them, ‘Why are ye come out to set in array the battle? [am] not I the Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose for you a man, and let him come down unto me;
9if he be able to fight with me, and have smitten me, then we have been to you for servants; and if I am able for him, and have smitten him, then ye have been to us for servants, and have served us.’
10And the Philistine saith, ‘I have reproached the ranks of Israel this day; give to me a man, and we fight together.’
11And Saul heareth — and all Israel — these words of the Philistine, and they are broken down and greatly afraid.
12And David [is] son of this Ephrathite of Beth-Lehem-Judah, whose name [is] Jesse, and he hath eight sons, and the man in the days of Saul hath become aged among men;
13and the three eldest sons of Jesse go, they have gone after Saul to battle; and the name of his three sons who have gone into battle [are] Eliab the first-born, and his second Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
14And David is the youngest, and the three eldest have gone after Saul,
15and David is going and returning from Saul, to feed the flock of his father at Beth-Lehem.
16And the Philistine draweth nigh, morning and evening, and stationeth himself forty days.
17And Jesse saith to David his son, ‘Take, I pray thee, to thy brethren, an ephah of this roasted [corn], and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;
18and these ten cuttings of the cheese thou dost take in to the head of the thousand, and thy brethren thou dost inspect for welfare, and their pledge dost receive.’
19And Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel [are] in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
20And David riseth early in the morning, and leaveth the flock to a keeper, and lifteth up, and goeth, as Jesse commanded him, and he cometh in to the path, and to the force which is going out unto the rank, and they have shouted for battle;
21and Israel and the Philistines set in array rank to meet rank.
22And David letteth down the goods from off him on the hand of a keeper of the goods, and runneth into the rank, and cometh and asketh of his brethren of welfare.
23And he is speaking with them, and lo, a man of the duellists is coming up, Goliath the Philistine [is] his name, of Gath, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and he speaketh according to those words, and David heareth;
24and all the men of Israel when they see the man flee from his presence, and are greatly afraid.
25And the men of Israel say, ‘Have ye seen this man who is coming up? for, to reproach Israel he is coming up, and it hath been — the man who smiteth him, the king doth enrich him with great riches, and his daughter he doth give to him, and his father's house doth make free in Israel.’
26And David speaketh unto the men who are standing by him, saying, ‘What is done to the man who smiteth this Philistine, and hath turned aside reproach from Israel? for who [is] this uncircumcised Philistine that he hath reproached the ranks of the living God?’
27And the people speak to him according to this word, saying, ‘Thus it is done to the man who smiteth him.’
28And Eliab, his eldest brother, heareth when he speaketh unto the men, and the anger of Eliab burneth against David, and he saith, ‘Why [is] this — thou hast come down! and to whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I have known thy pride, and the evil of thy heart — for, to see the battle thou hast come down.’
29And David saith, ‘What have I done now? is it not a word?’
30And he turneth round from him unto another, and saith according to this word, and the people return him word as the first word.
31And the words which David hath spoken are heard, and they declare before Saul, and he receiveth him;
32and David saith unto Saul, ‘Let no man's heart fall because of him, thy servant doth go, and hath fought with this Philistine.’
33And Saul saith unto David, ‘Thou art not able to go unto this Philistine, to fight with him, for a youth thou [art], and he a man of war from his youth.’
34And David saith unto Saul, ‘A shepherd hath thy servant been to his father among the sheep, and the lion hath come — and the bear — and hath taken away a sheep out of the drove,
35and I have gone out after him, and smitten him, and delivered out of his mouth, and he riseth against me, and I have taken hold on his beard, and smitten him, and put him to death.
36Both the lion and the bear hath thy servant smitten, and this uncircumcised Philistine hath been as one of them, for he hath reproached the ranks of the living God.’
37And David saith, ‘Jehovah, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He doth deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’ And Saul saith unto David, ‘Go, and Jehovah is with thee.’
38And Saul clotheth David with his long robe, and hath put a helmet of brass on his head, and doth clothe him with a coat of mail.
39And David girded his sword above his long robe, and beginneth to go, for he hath not tried [it]; and David saith unto Saul, ‘I am not able to go with these, for I had not tried;’ and David turneth them aside from off him.
40And he taketh his staff in his hand, and chooseth for him five smooth stones from the brook, and putteth them in the shepherds' habiliments that he hath, even in the scrip, and his sling [is] in his hand, and he draweth nigh unto the Philistine.
41And the Philistine goeth on, going and drawing near unto David, and the man bearing the buckler [is] before him,
42and the Philistine looketh attentively, and seeth David, and despiseth him, for he was a youth, and ruddy, with a fair appearance.
43And the Philistine saith unto David, ‘Am I a dog that thou art coming unto me with staves?’ and the Philistine revileth David by his gods,
44and the Philistine saith unto David, ‘Come unto me, and I give thy flesh to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the field.’
45And David saith unto the Philistine, ‘Thou art coming unto me with sword, and with spear, and with buckler, and I am coming unto thee in the name of Jehovah of Hosts, God of the ranks of Israel, which thou hast reproached.
46This day doth Jehovah shut thee up into my hand — and I have smitten thee, and turned aside thy head from off thee, and given the carcase of the camp of the Philistines this day to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth, and all the earth do know that God is for Israel.
47And all this assembly do know that not by sword and by spear doth Jehovah save, that the battle [is] Jehovah's, and He hath given you into our hand.’
48And it hath come to pass, that the Philistine hath risen, and goeth, and draweth near to meet David, and David hasteth and runneth to the rank to meet the Philistine,
49and David putteth forth his hand unto the vessel, and taketh thence a stone, and slingeth, and smiteth the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sinketh into his forehead, and he falleth on his face to the earth.
50And David is stronger than the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smiteth the Philistine, and putteth him to death, and there is no sword in the hand of David,
51and David runneth and standeth over the Philistine, and taketh his sword, and draweth it out of its sheath, and putteth him to death, and cutteth off with it his head; and the Philistines see that their hero [is] dead, and flee.
52And the men of Israel rise — also Judah — and shout, and pursue the Philistines till thou enter the valley, and unto the gates of Ekron, and the wounded of the Philistines fall in the way of Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron,
53and the sons of Israel turn back from burning after the Philistines, and spoil their camps.
54And David taketh the head of the Philistine, and bringeth it in to Jerusalem, and his weapons he hath put in his own tent.
55And when Saul seeth David going out to meet the Philistine, he hath said unto Abner, head of the host, ‘Whose son [is] this — the youth, Abner?’ and Abner saith, ‘Thy soul liveth, O king, I have not known.’
56And the king saith, ‘Ask thou whose son this [is] — the young man.’
57And when David turneth back from smiting the Philistine, then Abner taketh him and bringeth him in before Saul, and the head of the Philistine in his hand;
58and Saul saith unto him, ‘Whose son [art] thou, O youth?’ and David saith, ‘Son of thy servant Jesse, the Beth-Lehemite.’
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