Chapter 17

David and Goliath. ¹ The Philistines assembled their armies, and they were gathered at Socoh in Judah. They were camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. ² Saul and the Israelites gathered together and camped in the Valley of Elah. They arranged themselves in order for battle against the Philistines. ³ The Philistines stood on one side of a mountain, and Israel stood on the mountainside facing them, with the valley in between them.

⁴ Then a champion named Goliath of Gath came forth out of the camp of the Philistines. He was six cubits and a span high.^{[a] 5} He wore a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore armor, a coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels of bronze. ⁶ On his legs he wore bronze leg armor, and he had a bronze javelin slung on his back. ⁷ His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of the spear weighed six hundred iron shekels. His shield-bearer walked before him.

⁸ He stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, “Why do you not come out arrayed in battle line? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will become your slaves. But if I defeat and kill him, then you will be our slaves and serve us.” ¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today. Give me a man so that we can fight each other.”

¹¹ When Saul and all of Israel heard what the Philistine said, they were dismayed and terrified.

¹² David Arrives in the Camp.^[b] Now David was the son of Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah, an Ephrathite. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was already old and well on in years. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul into battle. The names of the three sons who had gone into battle were: Eliab, the oldest, Abinadab, the second oldest, and Shammah, the next oldest. ¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul. ¹⁵ David went back and forth to Saul in order to tend to his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

¹⁶ For forty days, each morning and each evening, the Philistine presented himself.

¹⁷ Jesse said to David, his son, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers. Rush this out to your brothers’ camp. ¹⁸ Also take along these ten cheeses for the commander of their group of one thousand. See how your brothers are faring, and bring back news from them.”

¹⁹ They and Saul and all of the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah fighting against the Philistines. ²⁰ David rose early the next morning, left the sheep with someone to tend them, took the things and left as Jesse had instructed him. He came to the outskirts of the camp just as the army was going forth into battle, shouting their war cries. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were lined up for battle, one army facing the other. ²² David left his things in the care of the keeper of supplies. He ran to the battle line and came to his brothers whom he greeted.

²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath of Gath, the champion of the Philistines, came forth from the Philistine lines, and he shouted the same taunt, and David heard it. ²⁴ When all the Israelites saw the man, they ran away from him in great fear.

²⁵ Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? Surely he comes out to defy Israel. The king will give a great reward to the man who kills him. He will even give him his daughter in marriage, and he will exempt his father’s family from taxes in Israel.”

²⁶ David spoke to the men who were standing by him saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”^{[c] 27} The people answered him saying something like, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking to the men, Eliab became very angry at David. He said, “Why have you come down here? With whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know about your pride and the wickedness of your heart, for you only came down here to see the battle.” ²⁹ David answered, “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?”

³⁰ Then he turned away from him and spoke to another man, asking the same thing. The people answered him the same way they had before. ³¹ When the words that David had spoken were heard, they were repeated to Saul who summoned him.

³² David Accepts the Challenge. David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of him. Your servant will go out and fight with this Philistine.” ³³ Saul said to David, “You cannot go out against the Philistine and fight with him. You are only a boy, and he has been a warrior since he was young.” ³⁴ David said to Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear would come and carry a lamb away from the flock, ³⁵ I would chase after it and strike it and rescue it from out of its mouth. When it would rise up against me, I would seize it by its fur and strike and kill it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed lion and bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the army of the living God.” ³⁷ David continued, “The Lord who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me out of the hands of this Philistine.” Saul then said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

³⁸ David Prepares for the Encounter. Saul dressed David in his own armor. He put a bronze helmet on his head and covered him with a coat of mail. ³⁹ David fastened his sword over his armor, and he tried to walk around in it, but he was not used to it. David said to Saul, “No! I cannot walk in these, because I am not used to them.” David then took them off.

⁴⁰ He took his staff in his hand, and he chose five smooth stones from out of the stream. He put them in a pouch in his shepherd’s bag, and with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ David’s Victory. Meanwhile, the Philistine drew nearer to David, his shield-bearer preceding him. ⁴² The Philistine looked David over, and he held him in contempt, for he was only a youth, ruddy, and handsome. ⁴³ The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come out to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, “Come over to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” ⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin. I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ The Lord will deliver you into my hands today. I will strike you down and take off your head. Today I will give the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Thus, everyone on the earth will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ All of those who are gathered in assembly here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you over into our hands.”

⁴⁸ When the Philistine got up and approached David, David ran quickly to meet the Philistine in battle. ⁴⁹ David reached into his bag and pulled out a stone. He launched it with the sling and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell face first to the earth.

⁵⁰ David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David struck down the Philistine and killed him, even without carrying a sword in his hand. ⁵¹ David ran over to the Philistine and stood over him. He took hold of his sword and drew it out from the sheath. He killed the Philistine and cut off his head with it.

The Philistines Flee. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵² The men of Israel and Judah rose up and shouted. They pursued the Philistines until they arrived at the entrance to Gath and the gates of Ekron. The Philistines who had been struck down were all along the Shaaraim road even up to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from chasing after the Philistines, they plundered their tents. ⁵⁴ David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he placed his armor in his tent.^[d]

⁵⁵ David Is Presented to Saul. When Saul watched David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Whose son is this young man?” Abner answered, “As surely as you live, I do not know.” ⁵⁶ The king said, “Ask around whose son this young man is.” ⁵⁷ When David returned after having killed the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head in his hand. ⁵⁸ Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” David answered, “Your servant is the son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite.”