1The Philistines gathered their army together for war. They came to Sokoh in Judah. They set up camp at Ephes Dammim. It was between Sokoh and Azekah.2Saul and the army of Israel gathered together. They camped in the Valley of Elah. They lined up their men to fight against the Philistines.3The Philistine army was camped on one hill. Israel’s army was on another. The valley was between them.4A mighty hero named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp. He was from Gath. He was more than 3.25 metres tall.5He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore bronze armour that weighed 60 kilograms.6On his legs he wore bronze guards. He carried a bronze javelin on his back.7His spear was as big as a weaver’s rod. Its iron point weighed 7 kilograms. The man who carried his shield walked along in front of him.8Goliath stood there and shouted to the soldiers of Israel. He said, ‘Why do you come out and line up for battle? I’m a Philistine. You are servants of Saul. Choose one of your men. Let him come down and face me.9If he’s able to fight and kill me, we’ll become your slaves. But if I win and kill him, you will become our slaves and serve us.’10Goliath continued, ‘This day I dare the soldiers of Israel to send a man down to fight against me.’11Saul and the whole army of Israel heard what the Philistine said. They were terrified.12David was the son of an Ephrathite whose name was Jesse. Jesse was from Bethlehem in Judah and had eight sons. When Saul was king, Jesse was already very old.13Jesse’s three eldest sons had followed Saul into battle. The eldest son was Eliab. The second was Abinadab. The third was Shammah.14David was the youngest. The three eldest sons followed Saul.15But David went to and fro from Saul’s camp to Bethlehem. He went to Bethlehem to take care of his father’s sheep.16Every morning and evening Goliath came forward and stood there. He did it for 40 days.17Jesse said to his son David, ‘Get 15 kilograms of corn that has been cooked. Also get ten loaves of bread. Take all of it to your brothers. Hurry to their camp.18Take along these ten chunks of cheese to the commander of their military group. Find out how your brothers are doing. Bring me back some word about them.19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel. They are in the Valley of Elah. They are fighting against the Philistines.’20Early in the morning David left his father’s flock in the care of a shepherd. David loaded up the food and started out, just as Jesse had instructed. David reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions. The soldiers were shouting the war cry.21The Israelites and the Philistines were lining up their armies for battle. The armies were facing each other.22David left what he had brought with the man who took care of the supplies. He ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were.23As David was talking with them, Goliath stepped forward from his line. Goliath was a mighty Philistine hero from Gath. He again dared someone to fight him, and David heard it.24Whenever Israel’s army saw Goliath, all of them ran away from him. That’s because they were so afraid.25The Israelites had been saying, ‘Just look at how this man keeps daring Israel to fight him! The king will make the man who kills Goliath very wealthy. The king will also give his own daughter to be that man’s wife. The king won’t require anyone in the man’s family to pay any taxes in Israel.’26David spoke to the men standing near him. He asked them, ‘What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine? Goliath is bringing shame on Israel. What will be done for the one who removes it? This Philistine isn’t even circumcised. He dares the armies of the living God to fight him. Who does he think he is?’27The men told David what Israel’s soldiers had been saying. The men told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.28David’s eldest brother Eliab heard him speaking with the men. So Eliab became very angry with him. Eliab asked David, ‘Why have you come down here? Who is taking care of those few sheep in the desert for you? I know how proud you are. I know how evil your heart is. The only reason you came down here was to watch the battle.’29‘What have I done now?’ said David. ‘Can’t I even speak?’30Then he turned away to speak to some other men. He asked them the same question he had asked before. And they gave him the same answer.31Someone heard what David said and reported it to Saul. So Saul sent for David.32David said to Saul, ‘Don’t let anyone lose hope because of that Philistine. I’ll go out and fight him.’33Saul replied, ‘You aren’t able to go out there and fight that Philistine. You are too young. He’s been a warrior ever since he was a boy.’34But David said to Saul, ‘I’ve been taking care of my father’s sheep. Sometimes a lion or a bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock.35Then I would go after it and hit it. I would save the sheep it was carrying in its mouth. If it turned round to attack me, I would grab its hair. I would strike it down and kill it.36In fact, I’ve killed both a lion and a bear. I’ll do the same thing to this Philistine. He isn’t even circumcised. He has dared the armies of the living God to fight him.37The LORD saved me from the paw of the lion. He saved me from the paw of the bear. And he’ll save me from the powerful hand of this Philistine too.’ Saul said to David, ‘Go. And may the LORD be with you.’38Then Saul dressed David in his own military clothes. He put a coat of armour on him. He put a bronze helmet on his head.39David put on Saul’s sword over his clothes. He walked around for a while in all that armour because he wasn’t used to it. ‘I can’t go out there in all this armour,’ he said to Saul. ‘I’m not used to it.’ So he took it off.40Then David picked up his wooden staff. He went down to a stream and chose five smooth stones. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag. Then he took his sling in his hand and approached Goliath.41At that same time, the Philistine kept coming closer to David. The man carrying Goliath’s shield walked along in front of him.42Goliath looked David over. He saw how young he was. He also saw how healthy and handsome he was. And he hated him.43He said to David, ‘Why are you coming at me with sticks? Do you think I’m only a dog?’ The Philistine cursed David in the name of his gods.44‘Come over here,’ he said. ‘I’ll feed your body to the birds and wild animals!’45David said to Goliath, ‘You are coming to fight against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin. But I’m coming against you in the name of the LORD who rules over all. He is the God of the armies of Israel. He’s the one you have dared to fight against.46This day the LORD will give me the victory over you. I’ll strike you down. I’ll cut your head off. This day I’ll feed the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and wild animals. Then the whole world will know there is a God in Israel.47The LORD doesn’t rescue people by using a sword or a spear. And everyone here will know it. The battle belongs to the LORD. He will hand all of you over to us.’48As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet him.49He reached into his bag. He took out a stone. He put it in his sling. He slung it at Goliath. The stone hit him on the forehead and sank into it. He fell to the ground on his face.50So David won the fight against Goliath with a sling and a stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. He did it without even using a sword.51David ran and stood over him. He picked up Goliath’s sword and cut off his head with it. The Philistines saw that their hero was dead. So they turned round and ran away.52Then the men of Israel and Judah shouted and rushed forward. They chased the Philistines to the entrance of Gath. They chased them to the gates of Ekron. Bodies of dead Philistines were scattered all along the road to Gath and Ekron. That’s the road that leads to Shaaraim.53Israel’s army returned from chasing the Philistines. They had taken everything from the Philistine camp.54David picked up Goliath’s head. He brought it to Jerusalem. He put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.55Saul had been watching David as he went out to meet the Philistine. He spoke to Abner, the commander of the army. Saul said to him, ‘Abner, whose son is that young man?’ Abner replied, ‘Your Majesty, I don’t know. And that’s just as sure as you are alive.’56The king said, ‘Find out whose son that young man is.’57After David killed Goliath, he returned to the camp. Then Abner brought him to Saul. David was still carrying Goliath’s head.58‘Young man, whose son are you?’ Saul asked him. David said, ‘I’m the son of Jesse from Bethlehem.’
1 Samuel 17
English Standard Version
David and Goliath
1Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. (Jos 10:10; Jos 15:35; 1Sa 13:5; 1Ch 11:13; Ne 11:30)2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. (1Sa 17:19; 1Sa 21:9)3And the 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[1] cubits[2] and a span. (Jos 11:22; Jos 13:3; 1Sa 21:10; 2Sa 21:19; 1Ch 20:4)5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels[3] of bronze.6And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. (1Sa 17:45)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. (1Sa 17:41)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. (1Sa 8:17)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.” (1Sa 11:1)10And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” (1Sa 17:25; 1Sa 17:36; 1Sa 17:45; 2Sa 21:21)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.[4] (Ge 35:19; Ru 4:22; 1Sa 16:1; 1Sa 16:10; 1Sa 16:18; 1Sa 17:58; 1Ch 2:13)13The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. (1Sa 16:6; 1Sa 16:8; 1Ch 2:13)14David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, (1Sa 16:11)15but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. (1Sa 16:19)16For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.17And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah[5] 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 if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.” (Ge 37:14; 1Sa 16:20)19Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.20And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. (1Sa 26:5; 1Sa 26:7)21And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.22And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. (Isa 10:28; Ac 21:15)23As he talked with them, behold, 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. (1Sa 17:4; 1Sa 17:8)24All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.25And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” (Jos 15:16; 1Sa 17:10; 1Sa 17:36; 1Sa 17:45)26And David 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?” (De 5:26; Jos 3:10; Jud 14:3; 1Sa 11:2; 1Sa 17:25)27And the people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.” (1Sa 17:25)28Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And 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 to see the battle.”29And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?”30And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before. (1Sa 17:26)31When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him.32And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” (De 20:3; 1Sa 16:18)33And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”34But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,35I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.36Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” (1Sa 17:10; 1Sa 17:26)37And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” (1Sa 20:13; 1Ch 22:11; 1Ch 22:16; 2Ti 4:17)38Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail,39and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off.40Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.41And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. (1Sa 17:7)42And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. (1Sa 16:12)43And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. (1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 3:8; 2Sa 9:8; 2Sa 16:9; 2Ki 8:13)44The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” (1Sa 17:46)45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a 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. (1Sa 17:6; 1Sa 17:36)46This 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 host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, (De 28:26; Jos 4:24; 1Sa 17:44; 1Ki 18:36)47and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” (2Ch 20:15; Ps 44:6; Ho 1:7; Zec 4:6)48When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.49And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. (1Sa 21:9; 2Sa 23:21; Heb 11:34)52And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath[6] and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. (Jos 15:11; Jos 15:36; 1Sa 17:4)53And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.54And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. (1Sa 17:57; 2Sa 5:6)55As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” (1Sa 1:26; 1Sa 16:21; 2Sa 2:8)56And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.”57And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. (1Sa 17:54)58And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.” (1Sa 17:12)