1 Samuel 17
17
Goliath Challenges the Israelites
1The Philistines gathered for battle in Socoh, a town in Judah; they camped at a place called Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. 2Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, where they got ready to fight the Philistines. 3The Philistines lined up on one hill and the Israelites on another, with a valley between them.
4A man named Goliath, from the city of Gath, came out from the Philistine camp to challenge the Israelites. He was nearly three metres#17.4 Hebrew nearly three metres; one ancient Hebrew manuscript and one ancient translation about two metres. tall 5and wore bronze armour that weighed about 57 kilogrammes and a bronze helmet. 6His legs were also protected by bronze armour, and he carried a bronze javelin slung over his shoulder. 7His spear was as thick as the bar on a weaver's loom, and its iron head weighed about seven kilogrammes. A soldier walked in front of him carrying his shield. 8Goliath stood and shouted at the Israelites, “What are you doing there, lined up for battle? I am a Philistine, you slaves of Saul! Choose one of your men to fight me. 9If he wins and kills me, we will be your slaves; but if I win and kill him, you will be our slaves. 10Here and now I challenge the Israelite army. I dare you to pick someone to fight me!” 11When Saul and his men heard this, they were terrified.
David in Saul's Camp
12David was the son of Jesse, who was an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and at the time Saul was king, he was already a very old man.#17.12 Some ancient translations a very old man; Hebrew unclear. 13His three eldest sons had gone with Saul to war. The eldest was Eliab, the next was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. 14David was the youngest son, and while the three eldest brothers stayed with Saul, 15David would go back to Bethlehem from time to time, to take care of his father's sheep.
16Goliath challenged the Israelites every morning and evening for forty days.
17One day Jesse said to David, “Take ten kilogrammes of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and hurry with them to your brothers in the camp. 18And take these ten cheeses to the commanding officer. Find out how your brothers are getting on and bring back something to show that you saw them and that they are well. 19King Saul, your brothers, and all the other Israelites are in the Valley of Elah fighting the Philistines.”
20David got up early the next morning, left someone else in charge of the sheep, took the food, and went as Jesse had told him to. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelites were going out to their battle line, shouting the war cry. 21The Philistine and the Israelite armies took up positions for battle, facing each other. 22David left the food with the officer in charge of the supplies, ran to the battle line, went to his brothers, and asked how they were getting on. 23As he was talking to them, Goliath came forward and challenged the Israelites as he had done before. And David heard him. 24When the Israelites saw Goliath, they ran away in terror. 25“Look at him!” they said to each other. “Listen to his challenge! King Saul has promised to give a big reward to the man who kills him; the king will also give him his daughter to marry and will not require his father's family to pay taxes.”#17.25 to pay taxes; or either to pay taxes or serve him.
26David asked the men who were near him, “What will the man get who kills this Philistine and frees Israel from this disgrace? After all, who is this heathen Philistine to defy the army of the living God?” 27They told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.
28Eliab, David's eldest brother, heard David talking to the men. He was angry with David and said, “What are you doing here? Who is taking care of those sheep of yours out there in the wilderness? You cheeky brat, you! You just came to watch the fighting!”
29“Now what have I done?” David asked. “Can't I even ask a question?” 30He turned to another man and asked him the same question, and every time he asked, he got the same answer.
31Some men heard what David had said, and they told Saul, who sent for him. 32David said to Saul, “Your Majesty, no one should be afraid of this Philistine! I will go and fight him.”
33“No,” answered Saul. “How could you fight him? You're just a boy, and he has been a soldier all his life!”
34“Your Majesty,” David said, “I take care of my father's sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear carries off a lamb, 35I go after it, attack it, and rescue the lamb. And if the lion or bear turns on me, I grab it by the throat and beat it to death. 36I have killed lions and bears, and I will do the same to this heathen Philistine, who has defied the army of the living God. 37The LORD has saved me from lions and bears; he will save me from this Philistine.”
“All right,” Saul answered. “Go, and the LORD be with you.” 38He gave his own armour to David for him to wear: a bronze helmet, which he put on David's head, and a coat of armour. 39David strapped Saul's sword over the armour and tried to walk, but he couldn't, because he wasn't used to wearing them. “I can't fight with all this,” he said to Saul. “I'm not used to it.” So he took it all off. 40He took his shepherd's stick and then picked up five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his bag. With his sling ready, he went out to meet Goliath.
David Defeats Goliath
41The Philistine started walking towards David, with his shield-bearer walking in front of him. He kept coming closer, 42and when he got a good look at David, he was filled with scorn for him because he was just a nice, good-looking boy. 43He said to David, “What's that stick for? Do you think I'm a dog?” And he called down curses from his god on David. 44“Come on,” he challenged David, “and I will give your body to the birds and animals to eat.”
45David answered, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the Israelite armies, which you have defied. 46This very day the LORD will put you in my power; I will defeat you and cut off your head. And I will give the bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds and animals to eat. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a God, 47and everyone here will see that the LORD does not need swords or spears to save his people. He is victorious in battle, and he will put all of you in our power.”
48Goliath started walking towards David again, and David ran quickly towards the Philistine battle line to fight him. 49He put his hand into his bag and took out a stone, which he slung at Goliath. It hit him on the forehead and broke his skull, and Goliath fell face downwards on the ground. 50#2 Sam 21.19And so, without a sword, David defeated and killed Goliath with a sling and a stone! 51#1 Sam 21.9He ran to him, stood over him, took Goliath's sword out of its sheath, and cut off his head and killed him.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they ran away. 52The men of Israel and Judah shouted and ran after them, pursuing them all the way to Gath#17.52 One ancient translation Gath; Hebrew a valley. and to the gates of Ekron. The Philistines fell wounded all along the road that leads to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron. 53When the Israelites came back from pursuing the Philistines, they looted their camp. 54David picked up Goliath's head and took it to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath's weapons in his own tent.
David is Presented to Saul
55When Saul saw David going out to fight Goliath, he asked Abner, the commander of his army, “Abner, whose son is he?”
“I have no idea, Your Majesty,” Abner answered.
56“Then go and find out,” Saul ordered.
57So when David returned to camp after killing Goliath, Abner took him to Saul. David was still carrying Goliath's head. 58Saul asked him, “Young man, whose son are you?”
“I am the son of your servant Jesse from Bethlehem,” David answered.
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1 Samuel 17: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
1 Samuel 17
17
The Challenge of Goliath. 1The Philistines rallied their forces for battle at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes-dammim. 2Saul and the Israelites rallied and camped in the valley of the Elah, drawing up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3The Philistines were stationed on one hill and the Israelites on an opposite hill, with a valley between them.
4A champion named Goliath of Gath came out from the Philistine camp; he was six cubits and a span#Six cubits and a span: about nine feet nine inches (a cubit equals about eighteen inches; a span equals about eight inches). The Greek text and 4QSama read: “four cubits and a span” (six feet nine inches). The description of the Philistine’s might and his powerful weapons contrasts with the picture of the youthful David who trusts in God. tall. 5He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a bronze breastplate of scale armor weighing five thousand shekels, 6bronze greaves, and had a bronze scimitar slung from his shoulders. 7The shaft of his javelin was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron head weighed six hundred shekels.#Six hundred shekels: over fifteen pounds. His shield-bearer went ahead of him.#2 Sm 21:19; 1 Chr 11:23; 20:5. 8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel: “Why come out in battle formation? I am a Philistine, and you are Saul’s servants. Choose one of your men, and have him come down to me. 9If he beats me in combat and kills me, we will be your vassals; but if I beat him and kill him, you shall be our vassals and serve us.” 10The Philistine continued: “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Give me a man and let us fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard this challenge of the Philistine, they were stunned and terrified.
David Comes to the Camp.#Here the final editor begins an alternative account of David’s encounter with the Philistine hero, which continues in vv. 50–51 and concludes in 17:55–18:5. 12David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah who had eight sons. In the days of Saul Jesse was old and well on in years.#1 Sm 16:1, 10; Ru 1:2. 13The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to war; the names of these three sons who had gone off to war were Eliab the firstborn; Abinadab the second; and Shammah the third. 14David was the youngest. While the three oldest had joined Saul, 15David would come and go from Saul’s presence to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.#1 Sm 16:11; 18:2; 2 Sm 7:8; Ps 78:70–71.
16Meanwhile the Philistine came forward and took his stand morning and evening for forty days.
17Now Jesse said to his son David: “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves for your brothers, and bring them quickly to your brothers in the camp. 18Also take these ten cheeses for the field officer. Greet your brothers and bring home some token from them. 19Saul and your brothers, together with all Israel, are at war with the Philistines in the valley of the Elah.” 20Early the next morning, having left the flock with a shepherd, David packed up and set out, as Jesse had commanded him. He reached the barricade of the camp just as the army, on their way to the battleground, were shouting their battle cry.#1 Sm 26:5. 21The Israelites and the Philistines drew up opposite each other in battle array. 22David entrusted what he had brought to the keeper of the baggage and hastened to the battle line, where he greeted his brothers.#1 Sm 25:13. 23While he was talking with them, the Philistine champion, by name Goliath of Gath, came up from the ranks of the Philistines and spoke as before, and David listened. 24When the Israelites saw the man, they all retreated before him, terrified. 25The Israelites had been saying: “Do you see this man coming up? He comes up to insult Israel. The king will make whoever kills him a very wealthy man. He will give his daughter to him and declare his father’s family exempt from taxes in Israel.”#1 Sm 18:17; Jos 15:16. 26David now said to the men standing near him: “How will the man who kills this Philistine and frees Israel from disgrace be rewarded? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should insult the armies of the living God?”#1 Sm 18:25; Dt 5:26; Jgs 15:18; 2 Kgs 19:4; Is 37:4; Jer 10:10. 27They repeated the same words to him and said, “That is how the man who kills him will be rewarded.” 28When Eliab, his oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he grew angry with David and said: “Why did you come down? With whom have you left those sheep in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and dishonest heart. You came down to enjoy the battle!”#1 Sm 16:6. 29David protested, “What have I done now? I was only talking.” 30He turned from him to another and asked the same question; and everyone gave him the same answer as before. 31The words that David had spoken were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.
David Challenges Goliath. 32Then David spoke to Saul: “My lord should not lose heart. Let your servant go and fight this Philistine.” 33But Saul answered David, “You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him, for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34#Jgs 14:6; Sir 47:3. Then David told Saul: “Your servant used to tend his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or bear came to carry off a sheep from the flock, 35I would chase after it, attack it, and snatch the prey from its mouth. If it attacked me, I would seize it by the throat, strike it, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed both a lion and a bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be as one of them, because he has insulted the armies of the living God.”
37David continued: “The same Lord who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul answered David, “Go! the Lord will be with you.”#Prv 28:1.
Preparation for the Encounter. 38Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic, putting a bronze helmet on his head and arming him with a coat of mail. 39David also fastened Saul’s sword over the tunic. He walked with difficulty, however, since he had never worn armor before. He said to Saul, “I cannot go in these, because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40Then, staff in hand, David selected five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag. With his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.
David’s Victory. 41#The two combatants trade theological taunts. God uses the most unlikely opponent to destroy Goliath. With his shield-bearer marching before him, the Philistine advanced closer and closer to David. 42When he sized David up and saw that he was youthful, ruddy, and handsome in appearance, he began to deride him. 43He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with a staff?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods 44and said to him, “Come here to me, and I will feed your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.”#Dt 28:26; Ps 79:2–3; Is 18:6; Jer 7:33; 15:3. 45David answered him: “You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have insulted. 46Today the Lord shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will feed your dead body and the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God. 47All this multitude, too, shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves. For the battle belongs to the Lord, who shall deliver you into our hands.”#1 Sm 14:6, 10; Ps 33:16.
48The Philistine then moved to meet David at close quarters, while David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49David put his hand into the bag and took out a stone, hurled it with the sling, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone embedded itself in his brow, and he fell on his face to the ground. 50Thus David triumphed over the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck the Philistine dead, and did it without a sword in his hand.#1 Mc 4:30; Sir 47:4. 51Then David ran and stood over him; with the Philistine’s own sword which he drew from its sheath he killed him, and cut off his head.#1 Sm 21:10.
Flight of the Philistines. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled. 52Then the men of Israel and Judah sprang up with a battle cry and pursued them to the approaches of Gath and to the gates of Ekron, and Philistines fell wounded along the road from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53When they returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, the Israelites looted their camp. 54#1 Sm 31:9. David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he kept Goliath’s armor in his own tent.#Jerusalem was a Jebusite city; it came under Israelite control only at the beginning of David’s rule. As a young shepherd, David would not have had a military tent. In 21:10, Goliath’s sword is in the Nob temple.
David Presented to Saul. 55As Saul watched David go out to meet the Philistine, he asked his general Abner, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “On your life, O king, I have no idea.”#1 Sm 14:50. 56And the king said, “Find out whose son the lad is.” 57So when David returned from slaying the Philistine, Abner escorted him into Saul’s presence. David was still holding the Philistine’s head. 58Saul then asked him, “Whose son are you, young man?” David replied, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
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