1 Samuel 17:8-53

8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle formation? Am I not the Philistine, and you the 1servants of Saul? Choose a man as your representative and have him come down to me. 92If he is able to fight me and 3kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and 4kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.” 10Then the Philistine said, “5I have defied the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man, so that we may fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very fearful.

12Now David was 6the son of 7the 8Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, the man whose name was Jesse, and 9he had eight sons. And 10Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men. 13The three older sons of Jesse had 11followed Saul to the battle. And 12the names of his three sons who had gone into the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and second to him, Abinadab, and the third, Shammah. 14So 13David was the youngest. Now the three oldest followed Saul, 1514but David went back and forth from Saul 15to tend his father’s flock at Bethlehem. 16And the Philistine came forward morning and evening, and took his stand for forty days.

17Then Jesse said to his son David, “16Take now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to your brothers. 1817Bring also these ten slices of cheese to the commander of their thousand, 18and look into the well-being of your brothers and bring back 19confirmation from them. 19For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the Valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.”

20So David got up early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper, and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the 20entrenchment encircling the camp while the army was going out in battle formation, shouting the war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle formation, army against army. 22Then David left the 21baggage in the 22care of the baggage keeper and ran to the battle line. And he entered and 23greeted his brothers. 23As he was speaking with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath named Goliath, was coming up from the army of the Philistines, and he spoke 24these same words; and David heard him.

24When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were very fearful. 25And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will make the man who kills him wealthy with great riches, and 25will give him his daughter and make his father’s house 26free in Israel.”

26Then David said to the men who were standing by him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and rids Israel of 27the disgrace? For who is this 28uncircumcised Philistine, that he has dared to 29defy the armies of 30the living God?” 27The people 31answered him in agreement with this statement, saying, “32This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

28Now Eliab his oldest brother heard him when he spoke to the men; and 33Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why is it that you have come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I myself know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.” 29But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a 34question?” 30Then he turned 35away from him to another and 36said the same thing; and the people replied with the same words as 37before.

31When the words that David spoke were heard, they informed 38Saul, and he 39sent for him. 32And David said to Saul, “40May no one’s heart fail on account of him; 41your servant will go and fight this Philistine!” 33But Saul said to David, “42You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him; for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior since his youth.” 34But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock, 35I went out after it and 43attacked it, and 44rescued the sheep from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I grabbed it by its mane and struck it and killed it. 36Your servant has 45killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37And David said, “46The Lord who saved me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “47Go, and may the Lord be with you.” 38Then Saul clothed David with his military attire and put a bronze helmet on his head, and outfitted him with armor. 39And David strapped on his sword over his military attire and struggled at walking, for he had not trained with the armor. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, because I have not trained with them.” And David took them 48off. 40Then he took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, that is, in his shepherd’s pouch, and 49his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.

41Then the Philistine came and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42When the Philistine looked and saw David, 50he was contemptuous of him; for he was only a youth, and 5152reddish, with a handsome appearance. 43So the Philistine said to David, “53Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And 54the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh 55to the birds of the sky and the 56wild animals.” 45But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a 57saber, 58but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. Then I will give the 59dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, 60so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that this entire assembly may know that 61the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; 62for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will hand you over to us!”

48Then it happened, when the Philistine 63came closer to meet David, that 64David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

50So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and the stone: he struck the Philistine and killed him, and there was no sword in David’s hand. 51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and 65took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and finished him, and cut off his head with it. 66When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52Then the men of Israel and Judah rose up and shouted, and they pursued the Philistines 67as far as the valley, and to the gates of 68Ekron. And the Philistine dead 69lay along the way to 70Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron. 53Then the sons of Israel returned from their close pursuit of the Philistines, and plundered their camps.