1 Samuel 17
17
David and Goliath
1The Philistines assembled their armies for war. They assembled at Socoh, which is in Judah, and camped between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. 2So Saul and the army of Israel assembled and camped in the Elah Valley. They formed a battle line to fight the Philistines. 3The Philistines were stationed on a hill on one side, and the Israelites were stationed on a hill on the other side. There was a ravine between the two of them.
4The Philistine army’s champion came out of their camp. His name was Goliath from Gath. He was ten feet tall.#17:4 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek “seven feet tall.” 5He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore a bronze coat of armor scales weighing 125 pounds. 6On his legs he had bronze shin guards and on his back a bronze javelin. 7The shaft of his spear was like the beam used by weavers. The head of his spear was made of 15 pounds of iron. The man who carried his shield walked ahead of him.
8Goliath stood and called to the Israelites, “Why do you form a battle line? Am I not a Philistine, and aren’t you Saul’s servants? Choose a man, and let him come down to ⌞fight⌟ me. 9If he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your slaves. But if I overpower him and kill him, then you will be our slaves and serve us.” 10The Philistine added, “I challenge the Israelite battle line today. Send out a man so that we can fight each other.” 11When Saul and all the Israelites heard what this Philistine said, they were gripped with fear.
12David was a son of a man named Jesse from the region of Ephrath and the city of Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s day he was an old man.#17:12 Greek; Masoretic Text “he came a leader among men.” 13Jesse’s three oldest sons joined Saul’s army for the battle. The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, the third was Shammah, 14and David was the youngest. The three oldest joined Saul’s army. 15David went back and forth from Saul’s camp to Bethlehem, where he tended his father’s flock.
16Each morning and evening for 40 days, the Philistine came forward and made his challenge.
17Jesse told his son David, “Take this half-bushel of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers. Take them to your brothers in the camp right away. 18And take these ten cheeses to the captain of the regiment. See how your brothers are doing, and bring back some news about them. 19They, along with Saul and all the soldiers of Israel, are in the Elah Valley fighting the Philistines.”
20David got up early in the morning and had someone else watch ⌞the sheep⌟. He took ⌞the food⌟ and went, as Jesse ordered him. He went to the camp as the army was going out to the battle line shouting their war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines formed their battle lines facing each other. 22David left the supplies behind in the hands of the quartermaster, ran to the battle line, and greeted his brothers. 23While he was talking to them, the Philistine champion, Goliath from Gath, came from the battle lines of the Philistines. He repeated his words, and David heard them. 24When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him because they were terrified. 25The men of Israel said, “Did you see that man coming ⌞from the Philistine lines⌟? He keeps coming to challenge Israel. The king will make the man who kills this Philistine very rich. He will give his daughter to that man to marry and elevate the social status of his family.”
26David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and gets rid of Israel’s disgrace? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should challenge the army of the living God?”
27The soldiers repeated ⌞to David⌟ how the man who kills Goliath would be treated.
28Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard David talking to the men. Then Eliab became angry with David. “Why did you come here,” he asked him, “and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how overconfident and headstrong you are. You came here just to see the battle.”
29“What have I done now?” David snapped at him. “Didn’t I ⌞merely⌟ ask a question?” 30He turned to face another man and asked the same question, and the other soldiers gave him the same answer.
31What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, who then sent for him. 32David told Saul, “No one should be discouraged because of this. I will go and fight this Philistine.”
33Saul responded to David, “You can’t fight this Philistine. You’re just a boy, but he’s been a warrior since he was your age.”
34David replied to Saul, “I am a shepherd for my father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. If it attacked me, I took hold of its mane, struck it, and killed it. 36I have killed lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has challenged the army of the living God.” 37David added, “The Lord, who saved me from the lion and the bear, will save me from this Philistine.”
“Go,” Saul told David, “and may the Lord be with you.”
38Saul put his battle tunic on David; he put a bronze helmet on David’s head and dressed him in armor. 39David fastened Saul’s sword over his clothes and tried to walk, but he had never practiced doing this. “I can’t walk in these things,” David told Saul. “I’ve never had any practice doing this.” So David took all those things off.
40He took his stick with him, picked out five smooth stones from the riverbed, and put them in his shepherd’s bag. With a sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. 41The Philistine, preceded by the man carrying his shield, was coming closer and closer to David. 42When the Philistine got a good look at David, he despised him. After all, David was a young man with a healthy complexion and good looks.
43The Philistine asked David, “Am I a dog that you come to ⌞attack⌟ me with sticks?” So the Philistine called on his gods to curse David. 44“Come on,” the Philistine told David, “and I’ll give your body to the birds.”
45David told the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have insulted. 46Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. And this day I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals. The whole world will know that Israel has a God. 47Then everyone gathered here will know that the Lord can save without sword or spear, because the Lord determines every battle’s outcome. He will hand all of you over to us.”
48When the Philistine moved closer in order to attack, David quickly ran toward the opposing battle line to attack the Philistine. 49Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, hurled it from his sling, and struck the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank into Goliath’s forehead, and he fell to the ground on his face. 50So using ⌞only⌟ a sling and a stone, David proved to be stronger than the Philistine. David struck down and killed the Philistine, even though David didn’t have a sword in his hand. 51David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took Goliath’s sword, pulled it out of its sheath, and made certain the Philistine was dead by cutting off his head.
When the Philistines saw their hero had been killed, they fled. 52Then the soldiers of Israel and Judah rose up, shouted a battle cry, and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Wounded Philistines lay on the road to Shaaraim and all the way to Gath and Ekron. 53When the Israelites came back from their pursuit of the Philistines, they looted all the goods in the Philistine camp. 54David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath’s armor in his tent.
55As Saul watched David going out against the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?”
Abner answered, “I solemnly swear, as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
56The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”
57When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner brought him to Saul. David had the Philistine’s head in his hand.
58Saul asked him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
“The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered.
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1 Samuel 17: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Shemu’ĕl Aleph (1 Samuel) 17
17
1And the Philistines had gathered their armies for battle, and came together at Soḵoh, which belongs to Yehuḏah, and encamped between Soḵoh and Azĕqah, in Ephes Dammim.
2And Sha’ul and the men of Yisra’ĕl were gathered and encamped in the Valley of Ělah, and drew up in battle array to meet the Philistines.
3And the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Yisra’ĕl stood on a mountain on the other side, with the valley between them.
4Then a champion came out from the camp of the Philistines, named Golyath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
5And a bronze helmet was on his head, and he was armed with a scaled armour, and the weight of the coat was five thousand sheqels of bronze,
6and bronze shin guards on his legs and a bronze spear between his shoulders.
7And the wood of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred sheqels, and a shield-bearer went before him.
8And he stood and shouted to the armies of Yisra’ĕl, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Sha’ul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
9“If he is able to fight with me, and shall strike me, then we shall be your servants. But if I overcome him and shall strike him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.”
10Then the Philistine said, “This day I shall reproach the armies of Yisra’ĕl. Give me a man, and let us fight together.”
11And Sha’ul and all Yisra’ĕl heard these words of the Philistine, and they were broken down and in great fear.
12Now Dawiḏ was the son of that Ephrathite of Bĕyth Leḥem in Yehuḏah, whose name was Yishai, and he had eight sons, and in the days of Sha’ul the man was old among men.
13And the three oldest sons of Yishai went, they had gone to follow Sha’ul to the battle, and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliyaḇ the first-born, and his second Aḇinaḏaḇ, and the third Shammah.
14And Dawiḏ was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Sha’ul,
15but Dawiḏ went and returned from Sha’ul to feed his father’s sheep at Bĕyth Leḥem.
16And for forty days the Philistine drew near, morning and evening, and took his stand.
17Then Yishai said to his son Dawiḏ, “Please take to your brothers an ĕphah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp.
18“And take these ten cheeses to the commander of the thousand, and see how your brothers are, and bring back news of them.”
19For Sha’ul and they and all the men of Yisra’ĕl were in the Valley of Ělah, fighting with the Philistines.
20And Dawiḏ rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a herdsman, and took and went as Yishai had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight, and they shouted for the battle.
21And Yisra’ĕl and the Philistines drew up in battle array, army against army.
22And Dawiḏ left his supplies in the hand of the keeper of the supplies, and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.
23And he was speaking with them and saw the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Golyath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines. And he spoke according to the same words, and Dawiḏ heard.
24And all the men of Yisra’ĕl, when they saw the man, ran from him and were in great fear.
25And the men of Yisra’ĕl said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? For he has come up to reproach Yisra’ĕl. And it shall be that the man who strikes him, the sovereign is going to enrich him with great riches, and give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption in Yisra’ĕl.”
26And Dawiḏ spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who strikes this Philistine and shall take away reproach from Yisra’ĕl? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should reproach the armies of the living Elohim?”
27And the people answered him according to this word, saying, “This is what is done for the man who strikes him.”
28And Eliyaḇ his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliyaḇ’s displeasure burned against Dawiḏ, 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 evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”
29And Dawiḏ said, “Now what have I done? Was it not but a word?”
30And he turned around from him toward another and said the same word. And these people answered him a word like the first word.
31And when the words which Dawiḏ spoke were heard, they reported them to Sha’ul, and he sent for him.
32And Dawiḏ said to Sha’ul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him, your servant is going, and shall fight with this Philistine.”
33And Sha’ul said to Dawiḏ, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he a man of battle from his youth.”
34Then Dawiḏ said to Sha’ul, “Your servant has been tending sheep for his father, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,
35I went out after it and struck it, and rescued it from its mouth. And when it rose against me, I took hold of it by its beard, and struck it and killed it.
36“Your servant has stricken both lion and bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing he has reproached the armies of the living Elohim.”
37And Dawiḏ said, “יהוה, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He does deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Sha’ul said to Dawiḏ, “Go, and יהוה be with you!”
38And Sha’ul dressed Dawiḏ with his garments, and he put a bronze helmet on his head, and put a coat of armour on him.
39And Dawiḏ girded his sword over his garments, and began to go, but he had not tried them. Then Dawiḏ said to Sha’ul, “I am not able to go with these, for I have not tried them.” So Dawiḏ took them off.
40And he took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, 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.
41And the Philistine came, and began drawing near to Dawiḏ, and the man who bore the shield went before him.
42And when the Philistine looked about and saw Dawiḏ, he despised him, for he was a youth, and ruddy and of handsome appearance.
43And the Philistine said to Dawiḏ, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed Dawiḏ by his mighty ones.
44And the Philistine said to Dawiḏ, “Come to me, and I give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field!”
45But Dawiḏ said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the Name of יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of the armies of Yisra’ĕl, whom you have reproached.
46“This day יהוה shall deliver you into my hand, and I shall strike you and take your head from you, and give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines today to the birds of the heavens and the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth know that Elohim is for Yisra’ĕl,
47and all this assembly know that יהוה does not save with sword and spear, for the battle belongs to יהוה, and He shall give you into our hands.”
48And it came to be, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet Dawiḏ, that Dawiḏ hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
49And Dawiḏ put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
50Thus Dawiḏ was stronger than the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him, and there was no sword in the hand of Dawiḏ.
51Then Dawiḏ ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword 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, they fled.
52And the men of Yisra’ĕl and Yehuḏah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Eqron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the way to Sha‛arayim, even as far as Gath and Eqron.
53Then the children of Yisra’ĕl turned back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camps.
54And Dawiḏ took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Yerushalayim, but he put his weapons in his tent.
55And when Sha’ul saw Dawiḏ going out against the Philistine, he said to Aḇnĕr, the commander of the army, “Aḇnĕr, whose son is this youth?” And Aḇnĕr said, “As your being lives, O sovereign, I do not know.”
56And the sovereign said, “Ask whose son this young man is.”
57And when Dawiḏ returned from the striking of the Philistine, Aḇnĕr took him and brought him before Sha’ul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
58And Sha’ul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And Dawiḏ said, “The son of your servant Yishai the Bĕyth Leḥemite.”
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