1 Samuel 17
17
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 meters#17.4 about three meters: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls and some manuscripts of one ancient translation have “about two meters.” tall. 5-6He wore a bronze helmet and had bronze armor to protect his chest and legs. The chest armor alone weighed about 57 kilograms. He carried a bronze sword strapped on his back, 7and his spear was so big that the iron spearhead alone weighed about seven kilograms. 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 Decides To Challenge Goliath
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 oldest 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. 15#Ps 151.1. He 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 40 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 oldest 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 your little flock of sheep out in the desert? You spoiled 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 armor 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 armor 40and picked up his shepherd's stick. He went out to a stream and picked up five smooth rocks and put them in his leather bag. Then with his sling in his hand, he went straight toward Goliath.
David Kills Goliath
41Goliath came toward 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#Ps 151.6. “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 toward him. 49He put a rock in his sling and swung the sling around by its straps. When he let go of one strap, the rock flew out and hit Goliath on the forehead. It cracked his skull, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50#2 S 21.19. David defeated Goliath with a sling and a rock. He killed him without even using a sword.
51 #
2 S 21.19; Ps 151.7. David ran over and pulled out Goliath's sword. Then he used it to cut off Goliath's head.
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: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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