1 Samuel 17
17
David versus Goliath
1The Philistines # 1Sm 13:5 gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh # 2Ch 28:18 and Azekah # Jos 10:10 in Ephes-dammim. # 1Ch 11:13 2Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah; # 1Sm 21:9 then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.
3The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them. 4Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, # 2Sm 21:18-22; 1Ch 20:4-8 came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall # DSS, LXX read four cubits and a span # Lit was six cubits and a span 5and wore a bronze helmet # Lit helmet on his head and bronze scale armor that weighed 125 pounds. # Lit 5,000 shekels 6There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze sword # 1Sm 17:45 was slung between his shoulders. 7His spear shaft # 2Sm 21:19; 1Ch 11:23 was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed 15 pounds. # Lit 600 shekels In addition, a shield-bearer # 1Sm 17:41 was walking in front of him.
8He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations: “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation? ” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? # 1Sm 8:17 Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. 9If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” # 2Sm 2:12-16 10Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. # 1Sm 17:26,36,45 Send me a man so we can fight each other! ” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.
12Now David was the son of the Ephrathite # Gn 35:19 from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons # 1Sm 16:10-11; 1Ch 2:13-15 and during Saul’s reign was already an old man. 13Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names # 1Sm 16:6,8-9 were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third, 14and David was the youngest. # 1Sm 16:11 The three oldest had followed Saul, 15but David kept going back and forth from Saul # 1Sm 16:21-23 to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem.
16Every morning and evening for 40 days the Philistine came forward and took his stand. 17One day Jesse had told his son David: “Take this half-bushel # Lit this ephah of roasted grain along with these 10 loaves of bread # 1Sm 25:18 for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18Also take these 10 portions of cheese to the field commander. # Lit the leader of 1,000 Check on the welfare of your brothers # Gn 37:13-14 and bring a confirmation from them. 19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.”
20So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him.
He arrived at the perimeter of the camp # 1Sm 26:5,7 as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry. 21Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other. 22David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster # Jdg 18:21; Is 10:28 and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were. 23While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, # 1Sm 17:8-10 which David heard. 24When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified.
25Previously, an Israelite man had declared: “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The king will make the man who kills him very rich and will give him his daughter. # Jos 15:16 The king will also make the household of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel.” # 1Sm 8:11
26David spoke to the men who were standing with him: “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? # 1Sm 11:2 Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine # 1Sm 14:6; 17:36; Jr 9:25-26 that he should defy the armies # 1Sm 17:10 of the living God? ” # Dt 5:26; 2Kg 19:4
27The people told him about the offer, concluding, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.” # 1Sm 17:25
28David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and became angry with him. # Gn 37:4,8-36 “Why did you come down here? ” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart — you came down to see the battle! ”
29“What have I done now? ” protested David. “It was just a question.” 30Then he turned from those beside him to others in front of him and asked about the offer. The people gave him the same answer as before. # 1Sm 17:26-27
31What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him. 32David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by # Lit let a man’s heart fall over him; # Dt 20:1-4 your servant will go # 1Sm 16:18 and fight this Philistine! ”
33But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”
34David answered Saul: “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. # Am 3:12 If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, # LXX reads throat ; lit beard strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” # 2Tm 4:17-18
Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” # 1Sm 20:13
38Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor. 39David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul, “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off. 40Instead, he took his staff in his hand # Jdg 20:16 and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pouch, in his shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
41The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him # Pr 16:18 because he was just a youth, healthy # Or ruddy # 1Sm 16:12 and handsome. 43He said to David, “Am I a dog # 1Sm 24:14 that you come against me with sticks? ” # Some LXX mss add and stones?” And David said, “No! Worse than a dog!” Then he cursed David by his gods. # 1Kg 20:10 44“Come here,” the Philistine called to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts! ” # 1Sm 17:46
45David said to the Philistine: “You come against me with a dagger, spear, and sword, but I come against you in the name of Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel’s armies — you have defied Him. # 2Ch 32:7-8; Ps 124:8; Heb 11:34 46Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, cut your head off, and give the corpses # LXX reads give your limbs and the limbs of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, # 1Kg 18:36; 2Kg 19:19; Is 37:20 47and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, # Hs 1:7 for the battle is the Lord’s. # Ex 14:13-14; Ps 33:16-22; 44:4-8 He will hand you over to us.”
48When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine. # Ps 27:3 49David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. 50David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. Even though David had no sword, he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, # 1Sm 21:9 pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they ran. # Heb 11:34 52The men of Israel and Judah rallied, shouting their battle cry, and chased the Philistines to the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. # LXX reads Ashkelon # Jos 15:11 Philistine bodies were strewn all along the Shaaraim road # Jos 15:36 to Gath and Ekron.
53When the Israelites returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 54David took Goliath’s # Lit the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
55 # LXX omits 1Sm 17:55–18:5 When Saul had seen David going out to confront the Philistine, he asked Abner the commander of the army, “Whose son is this youth, Abner? ” # 1Sm 16:17-22; 17:25
“My king, as surely as you live, I don’t know,” Abner replied.
56The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is! ”
57When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand. # 1Sm 17:54 58Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man? ”
“The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” # 1Sm 17:12 David answered.
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1 Samuel 17: HCSB
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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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