1 Samuel 17:32-50

32David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go 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. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, 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.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

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 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 because he was just a youth, healthy and handsome.

43He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” Then he cursed David by his gods.

44“Come here,” the Philistine called to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!”

45David 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.

46Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses 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,

47and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. 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.

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 facedown to the ground.

50David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword.