1 Samuel 17

David versus Goliath

1 The Philistines  * 17:1 1Sm 13:5 gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh  * 17:1 2Ch 28:18 and Azekah  * 17:1 Jos 10:10 in Ephes-dammim.  * 17:1 1Ch 11:132 Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah;  * 17:2 1Sm 21:9 then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.

3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them. 4 Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath,  * 17:4 2Sm 21:18–22; 1Ch 20:4–8 came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches  * 17:4 DSS, LXX read four cubits and a span; i.e., six and a half feet,* 17:4 Lit was six cubits and a span tall 5 and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed one hundred twenty-five pounds.  * 17:5 Lit 5,000 shekels6 There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze javelin  * 17:6 1Sm 17:45 was slung between his shoulders. 7 His spear shaft  * 17:7 2Sm 21:19; 1Ch 11:23 was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds.  * 17:7 Lit 600 shekels In addition, a shield-bearer  * 17:7 1Sm 17:41 was walking in front of him.

8 He 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?  * 17:8 1Sm 8:17 Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. 9 If 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."  * 17:8–9 2Sm 2:12–1610 Then the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel today.  * 17:10 1Sm 17:26,36,45 Send me a man so we can fight each other! " 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.

12 Now David was the son of the Ephrathite  * 17:12 Gn 35:19 from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons  * 17:12 1Sm 16:10–11; 1Ch 2:13–15 and during Saul’s reign was already an old man. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names  * 17:13 1Sm 16:6,8–9 were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third, 14 and David was the youngest.  * 17:14 1Sm 16:11 The three oldest had followed Saul, 15 but David kept going back and forth from Saul  * 17:15 1Sm 16:21–23 to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem.

16 Every morning and evening for forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand. 17 One day Jesse had told his son David, "Take this half-bushel  * 17:17 Lit this ephah of roasted grain along with these ten loaves of bread  * 17:17 1Sm 25:18 for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to the field commander.  * 17:18 Lit the leader of 1,000 Check on the well-being of your brothers  * 17:18 Gn 37:13–14 and bring a confirmation from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines."

20 So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had charged him.

He arrived at the perimeter of the camp  * 17:20 1Sm 26:5,7 as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other. 22 David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster  * 17:22 Jdg 18:21; Is 10:28 and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were. 23 While 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,  * 17:23 1Sm 17:8–10 which David heard. 24 When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified.

25 Previously, 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.  * 17:25 Jos 15:16 The king will also make the family of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel."  * 17:25 1Sm 8:11

26 David 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?  * 17:26 1Sm 11:2 Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine  * 17:26 1Sm 14:6; 17:36; Jr 9:25–26 that he should defy the armies  * 17:26 1Sm 17:10 of the living God? "  * 17:26 Dt 5:26; 2Kg 19:4

27 The troops told him about the offer, concluding, "That is what will be done for the man who kills him."  * 17:27 1Sm 17:25

28 David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and he became angry with him.  * 17:28 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." 30 Then 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.  * 17:30 1Sm 17:26–27

31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him. 32 David said to Saul, "Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him;  * 17:32 Dt 20:1–4 your servant will go  * 17:32 1Sm 16:18 and fight this Philistine! "

33 But Saul replied, "You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young."

34 David 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, 35 I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth.  * 17:35 Am 3:12 If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur,  * 17:35 LXX reads throat; lit beard strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your 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." 37 Then 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."  * 17:37 2Tm 4:17–18

Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you."  * 17:37 1Sm 20:13

38 Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor. 39 David 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. 40 Instead, he took his staff in his hand  * 17:40 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.

41 The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him  * 17:42 Pr 16:18 because he was just a youth, healthy  * 17:42 Or ruddy,* 17:42 1Sm 16:12 and handsome. 43 He said to David, "Am I a dog  * 17:43 1Sm 24:14 that you come against me with sticks? "  * 17:43 Some LXX mss add and stones? " And David said, "No! Worse than a dog! " Then he cursed David by his gods.  * 17:43 1Kg 20:1044 "Come here," the Philistine called to David, "and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts! "  * 17:44 1Sm 17:46

45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel — you have defied him.  * 17:45 2Ch 32:7–8; Ps 124:8; Heb 11:3446 Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses  * 17:46 LXX reads give your limbs and the limbs of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God,  * 17:46 1Kg 18:36; 2Kg 19:19; Is 37:2047 and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves,  * 17:47 Hs 1:7 for the battle is the Lord’s.  * 17:47 Ex 14:13–14; Ps 33:16–22; 44:4–8 He will hand you over to us."

48 When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine.  * 17:48 Ps 27:349 David 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 facedown to the ground. 50 David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword. 51 David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword,  * 17:51 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 fled.  * 17:51 Heb 11:3452 The 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.  * 17:52 LXX reads Ashkelon,* 17:52 Jos 15:11 Philistine bodies were strewn all along the Shaaraim road  * 17:52 Jos 15:36 to Gath and Ekron.

53 When the Israelites returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 54 David took Goliath’s  * 17:54 Lit the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.

55 * 17:55 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? "  * 17:55 1Sm 16:17–22; 17:25

"Your Majesty, as surely as you live, I don’t know," Abner replied.

56 The king said, "Find out whose son this young man is! "

57 When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand.  * 17:57 1Sm 17:5458 Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man? "

"The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,"  * 17:58 1Sm 17:12 David answered.