Chapter 17
1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle ; and they were gathered together at Socoh , which belongs to Judah , and encamped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephesdammim.
2 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines .
3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side , and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side : and there was a valley between them .
4 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath , whose height was six cubits and a span went out .
5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head , and he wore a coat of mail ; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze .
6 He had bronze shin armour on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders .
7 The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam ; and his spear ’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron . His shield bearer went before him .
8 He stood and cried to the armies of Israel , and said to them , " Why have you come out to set your battle in array ? Am I not a Philistine , and you servants to Saul ? Choose a man for yourselves , and let him come down to me .
9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me , then will we be your servants ; but if I prevail against him and kill him , then you will be our servants and serve us ."
10 The Philistine said, " I defy the armies of Israel today ! Give me a man , that we may fight together !"
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine , they were dismayed and greatly afraid .
12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah , whose name was Jesse ; and he had eight sons . The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul .
13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone after 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 .
14 David was the youngest ; and the three oldest followed Saul .
15 Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem .
16 The Philistine came near morning and evening , and presented himself forty days .
17 Jesse said to David his son , " Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves , and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers ;
18 and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand; and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news ."
19 Now Saul , and they , and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines .
20 David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper , and took the provisions and went , as Jesse had commanded him . He came to the place of the wagons as the army which was going out to the fight shouted for the battle .
21 Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array , army against army .
22 David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the army , and came and greeted his brothers.
23 As he talked with them , behold , the champion, the Philistine of Gath , Goliath by name , came up out of the ranks of the Philistines , and said the same words ; and David heard them .
24 All the men of Israel , when they saw the man , fled from him and were terrified .
25 The men of Israel said, " Have you seen this man who has come up ? He has surely come up to defy Israel . The king will give great riches to the man who kills him , and will give him his daughter , and will make his father’s house tax-free in Israel ."
26 David spoke to the men who stood by him , saying, " What shall be done to 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 ?"
27 The people answered him in this way , saying , " So shall it be done to the man who kills him ."
28 Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men ; and Eliab’s anger burnt against David , and he said , " Why have you come down ? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness ? I know your pride and the evil of your heart ; for you have come down that you might see the battle ."
29 David said , " What have I now done ? Is there not a cause ?"
30 He turned away from him towards another , and spoke like that again ; and the people answered him again the same way .
31 When the words were heard which David spoke , they rehearsed them before Saul ; and he sent for him .
32 David said to Saul , " Let no man ’s heart fail because of him . Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine ."
33 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 a man of war from his youth ."
34 David said to Saul , " Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep ; and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock ,
35 I went out after him , struck him , and rescued it out of his mouth . When he arose against me , I caught him by his beard , struck him , and killed him .
36 Your servant struck both the lion and the bear . This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them , since he has defied the armies of the living God."
37 David said, " The LORD , who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear , will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine ." Saul said to David , " Go ! The LORD will be with you ."
38 Saul dressed David with his clothing . He put a helmet of bronze on his head , and he clad him with a coat of mail .
39 David strapped his sword on his clothing and he tried to move , for he had not tested it . David said to Saul , " I can ’t go with these , for I have not tested them ." Then David took them off .
40 He took his staff in his hand , and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook , and put them in the pouch of his shepherd ’s bag which he had . His sling was in his hand ; and he came near to the Philistine .
41 The Philistine walked and came near to David ; and the man who bore the shield went before him .
42 When the Philistine looked around and saw David , he disdained him ; for he was but a youth , and ruddy, and had a good looking face .
43 The Philistine said to David , "Am I a dog , that you come to me with sticks ?" The Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 The Philistine said to David , " Come to me , and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the field ."
45 Then David said to the Philistine , " You come to me with a sword , with a spear , and with a javelin ; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Armies , the God of the armies of Israel , whom you have defied .
46 Today , the LORD will deliver you into my hand . I will strike you and take your head from off you . I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines today to the birds of the sky and to the wild animals of the earth , that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel ,
47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD doesn’t save with sword and spear ; for the battle is the LORD ’s, and he will give you into our hand ."
48 When the Philistine arose , and walked and came near to meet David , David hurried and ran towards the army to meet the Philistine .
49 David put his hand in his bag , took a stone and slung it , and struck the Philistine in his forehead . The stone sank into his forehead , and he fell on his face to the earth.
50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him ; but there was no sword in David ’s hand .
51 Then David ran , stood over the Philistine , took his sword , drew it out of its sheath , killed him , and cut off his head with it . When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead , they fled .
52 The men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted , and pursued the Philistines as far as Gai and to the gates of Ekron . The wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim , even to Gath and to Ekron .
53 The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines , and they plundered their camp .
54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem , but he put his armour in his tent.
55 When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine , he said to Abner, the captain of the army , "Abner, whose son is this youth ?" Abner said , " As your soul lives , O king , I can ’t tell ."
56 The king said, " Enquire whose son the young man is !"
57 As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine , Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand .
58 Saul said to him , " Whose son are you , you young man ?" David answered, " I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite ."