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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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
1 Samuel 17
17
David and Goliath
1Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. 3The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six#17.4 MT: Q Ms Gk four cubits and a span. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants 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 serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! 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 the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.#17.12 Gk Syr: Heb among men 13The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. 16For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
17Jesse said to his son David, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them.”
19Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
24All the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid. 25The Israelites said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel.” 26David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 27The people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”
28His eldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. He said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart; for you have come down just to see the battle.” 29David said, “What have I done now? It was only a question.” 30He turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way; and the people answered him again as before.
31When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32David said to Saul, “Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!”
38Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. 40Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.
41The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” 45But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand.”
48When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David's hand. 51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it.
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52The troops of Israel and Judah rose up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath#17.52 Gk Syr: Heb Gai and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53The Israelites came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.
55When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” 56The king said, “Inquire whose son the stripling is.” 57On David's return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58Saul 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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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.