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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1 Samuel 17: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
I Samuel 17
17
David and Goliath
1Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at #Gen. 41:46; Prov. 22:29Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
4And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named #Josh. 15:35; 2 Chr. 28:18Goliath, from #2 Sam. 21:19Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. 8Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the #Josh. 11:21, 22servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and #1 Sam. 8:17serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, #1 Sam. 11:1“I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12Now David was #1 Sam. 17:26, 36, 45; 2 Sam. 21:21the son of that #Ruth 4:22; 1 Sam. 16:1, 18; 17:58Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had #Gen. 35:19eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul. 13The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The #1 Sam. 16:10, 11; 1 Chr. 2:13–15names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul. 15But David occasionally went and returned from Saul #1 Sam. 16:6, 8, 9; 1 Chr. 2:13to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.
17Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. 18And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and #1 Sam. 16:11, 19; 2 Sam. 7:8see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.” 19Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
20So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. 21For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. 22And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke #Gen. 37:13, 14according to the same words. So David heard them. 24And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. 25So the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, #1 Sam. 17:8–10will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.”
26Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away #Josh. 15:16the reproach from Israel? For who is this #1 Sam. 11:2uncircumcised Philistine, that he should #1 Sam. 14:6; 17:36; Jer. 9:25, 26defy the armies of #1 Sam. 17:10the living God?”
27And the people answered him in this manner, saying, #Deut. 5:26; 2 Kin. 19:4; Jer. 10:10“So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”
28Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s #1 Sam. 17:25anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”
29And David said, “What have I done now? #Gen. 37:4, 8–36; (Prov. 18:19; Matt. 10:36)Is there not a cause?” 30Then he turned from him toward another and #1 Sam. 17:17said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did.
31Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul; and he sent for him. 32Then David said to Saul, #1 Sam. 17:26, 27“Let no man’s heart fail because of him; #Deut. 20:1–4your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33And Saul said to David, #1 Sam. 16:18“You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a #Num. 13:31; Deut. 9:2lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37Moreover David said, #Judg. 14:5“The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, #(2 Cor. 1:10; 2 Tim. 4:17, 18)“Go, and the Lord be with you!”
38So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, 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.
40Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. 41So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he #1 Sam. 20:13; 1 Chr. 22:11, 16disdained him; for he was only a youth, #(Ps. 123:4; Prov. 16:18; 1 Cor. 1:27, 28)ruddy and good-looking. 43So the Philistine #1 Sam. 16:12said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44And the Philistine #1 Sam. 24:14; 2 Sam. 3:8; 9:8; 16:9; 2 Kin. 8:13said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. #1 Sam. 17:46; 1 Kin. 20:10, 11But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have #2 Sam. 22:33, 35; 2 Chr. 32:8; Ps. 124:8; (2 Cor. 10:4); Heb. 11:33, 34defied. 46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give #1 Sam. 17:10the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, #Deut. 28:26that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord #Josh. 4:24; 1 Kin. 8:43; 18:36; 2 Kin. 19:19; Is. 52:10does not save with sword and spear; for #1 Sam. 14:6; 2 Chr. 14:11; 20:15; Ps. 44:6; Hos. 1:7; Zech. 4:6the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
48So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and #2 Chr. 20:15ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a #Ps. 27:3sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his #Judg. 3:31; 15:15; 20:16sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, #1 Sam. 21:9; 2 Sam. 23:21they fled. 52Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to #Heb. 11:34Shaaraim, even as far as Gath and Ekron. 53Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents. 54And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
55When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to #Josh. 15:36Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, #1 Sam. 14:50whose son is this youth?”
And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.”
56So the king said, “Inquire whose son this young man is.”
57Then, as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul #1 Sam. 16:21, 22with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
So David answered, #1 Sam. 17:54“I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.