The First Book of Samuel

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- Chapter 17 -

The Philistines gathered their army to fight the Israelite army. They gathered together near Sokoh, in the area where the descendants of Judah lived. They set up their tents at Ephes Dammim, which is between Sokoh and Azekah.

Saul gathered the Israelite army near Elah Valley, and they set up their tents. Then they all took their places, ready to fight the Philistines.

So the Philistine and Israelite armies faced each other. They were on two hills, with a valley between them.

Then Goliath, from the city of Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was a great warrior, three meters tall.

He wore a helmet made of bronze to protect his head, and he wore a coat made of metal plates to protect his body. The metal coat weighed about fifty-five kilograms.

He wore bronze guards on his legs. He had a small bronze spear fastened on his back.

He also had a big spear. It had a cord on it to enable him to throw it better. Its iron head weighed about seven kilograms. A soldier carrying Goliath’s huge shield walked in front of him.

Goliath stood there and shouted to the Israelite army, “I can see you are lined up for battle, but you will not fight me. You can see that I am a Philistine soldier who is ready to fight, but you are just the slaves of Saul. Choose one man who can fight for all of you and send him down here to me!

If he fights with me and kills me, then my fellow Philistines will all be your slaves. But if I defeat him and kill him, then you Israelites will all be our slaves.

None of you Israelite men can defeat me! Send me a man who will fight with me!”

When Saul and all the Israelite soldiers heard that, they were very terrified.

David Accepts the Challenge

Now David son of Jesse was from the clan of Ephrath. He lived in Bethlehem, in the region of the tribe of Judah. Jesse had eight sons. When Saul was king, Jesse had already become a very old man.

Jesse’s three oldest sons, Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah, had gone with Saul to fight the Philistines.

David was Jesse’s youngest son. While his three oldest brothers were with Saul,

David went back and forth. Sometimes he went to Saul’s camp, and sometimes he stayed in Bethlehem to take care of his father’s sheep.

For forty days Goliath came out from the Philistine camp and stood there mocking the Israelite army. He kept telling the Israelites to choose one man to fight with him. He did this twice each day, in the morning and in the evening.

One day, Jesse said to David, “Here is a sack of roasted grain and ten loaves of bread. Take these quickly to your older brothers.

And here are ten large chunks of cheese. Take them to their commander. And see how things are going with your older brothers. Then if they are safe, bring back something to show they are all right.

Your brothers are with Saul and all the other Israelite soldiers, camped alongside Elah Valley, preparing to fight the Philistines.”

So David arranged for another shepherd to take care of the sheep. Early the next morning he took the food and went to the Israelite camp, as Jesse told him to do. He arrived there just as the Israelite soldiers were forming their ranks and going out to the battlefield. As they went, they were shouting a war cry.

The Philistine army and the Israelite army stood on the hillsides, facing each other, ready for the battle.

David gave the food to the man who was taking care of the war equipment. He told him to take care of the food that he brought, and then he went and greeted his older brothers.

While he was talking with them, he saw Goliath coming out from among the Philistine soldiers, shouting to the Israelites, challenging them to send a man to fight him. David heard what Goliath was saying.

When all the Israelite soldiers saw Goliath, they were terrified and started to run away.

They were saying to each other, “Look at him coming up toward us! And listen to him as he defies us Israelites! The king says that he will give a big reward to whoever kills this man. He also says that he will give his daughter to that man for him to marry her, and that he will no longer require that man’s family to pay taxes.”

David talked to some of the men who were standing near him. He said, “This Philistine, this uncircumcised man, should not be mocking the all-powerful God. What will be given to the person who kills this Philistine and stops him from shaming us Israelites?”

The men told him the same thing that the other men had said, about what the king would do for anyone who killed Goliath.

But when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard David talking to the men, he was angry. He said to David, “Why have you come down here? Is someone taking care of those few sheep that you left in the desert? I know you are just a troublemaking boy! You just want to watch the battle!”

David replied, “Have I done something wrong? I was merely asking a question!”

Then he walked over to another man and asked him the same question, but the man gave him the same answer. Each time he asked someone, he received the same answer.

Finally, someone told King Saul what David had asked, and Saul sent someone to bring David to him.

David told King Saul, “No one should worry because of that Philistine man. I will go and fight with him!”

Saul said to David, “You are only a young man, and he has been a very powerful soldier all his life. So you are not able to go and fight with him!”

David replied, “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep for many years. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried away a lamb,

I went after it and attacked it and rescued the lamb from the animal’s mouth. Then I grabbed the animal by its jaw and struck it and killed it.

I have killed both lions and bears. And I will do the same to this heathen Philistine, because he has defied the army of the all-powerful God!

Yahweh has rescued me from paws of lions and bears, and he will rescue me from this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “All right, go and fight him, and I hope that Yahweh will help you!”

David Slays Goliath

Then Saul gave to David his own clothes that he always wore in battles, and he gave him a bronze helmet and a coat made of metal plates.

David put these things on. Then he fastened his sword over them and tried to walk. But he could not walk, because he was not accustomed to wearing those things. So David said to Saul, “I cannot fight wearing all these things, because I am not accustomed to wearing them!” So he took them off.

Then he took his walking staff; then he chose five smooth stones out of a streambed. He put them in the pouch of his shoulder bag. Then he put his sling in his hand and started walking toward Goliath.

Goliath walked toward David, with the soldier who was carrying his shield walking in front of him. When he got near David,

he looked at David closely. He saw that David had a handsome face and healthy body, but that he was only a young man. So he sneered at David.

He said to David, “Are you coming to me with a stick because you think that I am a dog?” Then he called out to his gods to harm David.

He said to David, “Come here to me, and I will kill you and give your dead body to the birds and wild animals to eat!”

David replied, “You are coming to me with a sword and a spear and a small spear. But I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies. He is the God whom the army of Israel worships, and he is the God whom you have defied.

Today Yahweh will enable me to defeat you. I will strike you down and cut off your head. And we Israelites will kill many Philistine soldiers and give their bodies to the birds and wild animals to eat. And everyone in the world will hear about it and know that we Israelite people worship an all-powerful God.

And everyone here will know that Yahweh can rescue people without a sword or a spear. Yahweh always wins his battles, and he will enable us to defeat all of you Philistines.”

As Goliath came closer to attack David, David ran quickly toward him.

He put his hand into his shoulder bag and took out one stone. He put in his sling and hurled it toward Goliath. The stone hit Goliath in the forehead and cracked his skull, and he fell facedown to the ground.

Then David ran and stood over Goliath. He pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath and killed him with it, and then cut off his head.

In that way David defeated the Philistine without having his own sword. He used only a sling and a stone! When the other Philistines saw that their great warrior was dead, they ran away.

The Israelite men shouted and ran after them. They pursued them all the way to the city of Gath and to the gates of the city of Ekron. They struck them down as they went, with the result that dead Philistines were lying on the road all the way from Shaaraim to Gath and Ekron.

When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered the Philistine camp.

David later took the head of Goliath to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.

As Saul watched David going toward Goliath, he said to Abner, the commander of his army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “As sure as you are alive, I do not know.”

Then the king said, “Find out whose son he is!”

Later, as David returned from killing Goliath, Abner took him to Saul. David was carrying Goliath’s head.

Saul asked him, “Young man, whose son are you?” David replied, “Sir, I am the son of your servant Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem.”

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.

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.

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.

A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span

(a)

went out.

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

(b)

of bronze.

He had bronze shin armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.

The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron.(c) His shield bearer went before him.

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.

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.”

The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”

When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

David Accepts the Challenge

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.

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.

David was the youngest; and the three oldest followed Saul.

Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

The Philistine came near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah(d) of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers;

and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand; and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news.”

Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

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.

Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army.

David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.

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.

All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were terrified.

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.”

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?”

The people answered him in this way, saying, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”

Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned 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.”

David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”

He turned away from him toward another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way.

When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him.

David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

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.”

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,

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.

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.”

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.”

David Slays Goliath

Saul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of bronze on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.

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.

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.

The Philistine walked and came near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him.

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.

The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods.

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.”

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.

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,

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.”

When the Philistine arose, and walked and came near to meet David, David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.

David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

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.”

The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is!”

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.

Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, you young man?” David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

Footnotes

(a)17:4 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters. A span is the length from the tip of a man’s thumb to the tip of his little finger when his hand is stretched out (about half a cubit, or 9 inches, or 22.8 cm.) Therefore, Goliath was about 9 feet and 9 inches or 2.97 meters tall.

(b)17:5 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 5000 shekels is about 50 kilograms or 110 pounds.

(d)17:17 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel