<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 The Philistines mustered their forces for battle. They assembled at Sok, which is in Judah, and set up camp at Ephes-dammim, between Sok and Azekah.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2<\/strong><\/a>Saul and the Israelites also gathered together, set up camp in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle formation against the Philistines.\u00a03<\/strong><\/a>The Philistines were stationed on one side of the mountain and the Israelites on the other. There was a valley between them.\u00a04<\/strong><\/a>From the ranks of the Philistines came a champion wrestler named Goliath of Gath, who was six cubits and one span tall.\u00a05<\/strong><\/a>He wore a bronze helmet on his head and was clad in scale armour. The armour weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.\u00a06<\/strong><\/a>He wore bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze shoulder guard.\u00a07<\/strong><\/a>The shaft of his spear was like a weaver\u2019s beam, and the tip of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron. A shield-bearer went before him.\u00a08<\/strong><\/a>He stood there and called out to the Israeli ranks. He said to them: \u2018Why are you coming out and forming your battle lines? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not Saul\u2019s servants? Send someone down to me.\u2019\u00a09<\/strong><\/a>If he can fight me and kill me, we shall be your slaves. If I overcome him and kill him, you shall be our slaves and serve us.\u00a010<\/strong><\/a>Then the Philistine said, \u2018Today I will bring shame upon the ranks of Israel. Hand someone over to me, so that we may fight.\u2019\u00a011<\/strong><\/a>When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistines, they trembled and were filled with dread.\u00a012<\/strong><\/a>David was the son of a man from Ephrathah, of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul, this man was already of advanced age.\u00a013<\/strong><\/a>Jishai\u2019s three eldest sons went into battle with Saul. The names of the three sons who went into battle were: the first-born, Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shama.\u00a014<\/strong><\/a>David was the youngest. The three eldest went with Saul.\u00a015<\/strong><\/a>David was leaving Saul and returning to Bethlehem to tend his father\u2019s sheep.\u00a016<\/strong><\/a>Meanwhile, the man from Peli\u0161te would come forward in the morning and in the evening, and continued to do so for forty days.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n 17 Ish-bosheth said to his son David: \u2018Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers, and take them quickly to the camp.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a018<\/strong><\/a>Take these ten pieces of cheese to the commander of the thousand. Find out how your brothers are getting on, and get a sign from them.\u00a019<\/strong><\/a>Saul, they and all the Israelites are in the Valley of Elah, waging war against the Philistines.\u00a020<\/strong><\/a>David got up early in the morning, left the sheep with the shepherd, loaded up his provisions and set off, as Jesse had instructed him. When he arrived at the camp, the army was lining up and raising a battle cry.\u00a021<\/strong><\/a>The Israelites and the Philistines lined up in battle formation, row against row.\u00a022<\/strong><\/a>David left his things with the armourer and ran over to the line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were getting on.\u00a023<\/strong><\/a>Whilst he was speaking to them, a champion fighter named Goliath, a Philistine from Gath, stepped out from among the Philistine ranks and repeated the same words as before. David heard this.\u00a024<\/strong><\/a>When all the Israelites saw the man, they fled from him and were terrified.\u00a025<\/strong><\/a>The Israelites said: \u2018Have you seen that man who has come forward? He is coming forward to defame Israel. Therefore, whoever kills him will be rewarded by the king with great wealth; he will give him his daughter and grant his father\u2019s household freedom in Israel.\u2019\u00a026<\/strong><\/a>David asked the men standing beside him: \u2018What will be given to the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the ranks of the living God?\u2019\u00a027<\/strong><\/a>The people replied with the same words as before: \u2018This is what the one who kills him will receive.\u2019\u00a028<\/strong><\/a>When his eldest brother, Eliab, heard him speaking to the men, he flew into a rage against David and said, \u2018Why have you come here? Who have you left those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and the wickedness of your heart. For you have come to watch the battle.\u2019\u00a029<\/strong><\/a>David said: \u2018What have I done now? I was just asking.\u2019\u00a030<\/strong><\/a>He turned away from him to someone else and asked the same question as before. The man replied with the same words as the first time.\u00a031<\/strong><\/a>When word got round of what David had said, they reported it to Saul, and he had him brought before him.\u00a032<\/strong><\/a>David said to Saul, \u2018Let no one lose heart because of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.\u2019\u00a033<\/strong><\/a>Saul said to David, \u2018You cannot go up against that Philistine and fight him. After all, you are only a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.\u2019\u00a034<\/strong><\/a>Then David said to Saul: \u2018Your servant used to tend his father\u2019s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,\u00a035<\/strong><\/a>I went after him, beat him, and rescued her from his jaws. When he turned on me, I grabbed him by the jaw and beat him until I killed him.\u00a036<\/strong><\/a>Your servant has slain both a lion and a bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will meet the same fate as them, for he has defied the living God.\u00a037<\/strong><\/a>David went on to say, \u2018The Lord, who has delivered me from the power of the lion and the power of the bear, will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.\u2019 So Saul said to David, \u2018Go, and may the Lord be with you.\u2019\u00a038<\/strong><\/a>Then Saul dressed David in his own clothes, placed a bronze helmet on his head and put a coat of mail on him.\u00a039<\/strong><\/a>David strapped his sword to his armour and tried to walk, as he was not used to it. David said to Saul, \u2018I cannot walk in this, for I am not used to it.\u2019 So David took it off.\u00a040<\/strong><\/a>He took a staff in his hand, picked up five pebbles from the stream, put them into the shepherd\u2019s bag he was carrying, and then into a pouch inside it; he held a sling in his hand. And so he approached the Philistine.\u00a041<\/strong><\/a>Meanwhile, the Philistine advanced, drawing ever closer to David. His shield-bearer walked ahead of him.\u00a042<\/strong><\/a>When the man from Pelishte looked up and saw David, he looked down on him, for he was only a boy, a fair-haired lad of handsome appearance.\u00a043<\/strong><\/a>The Philistine said to David, \u2018Am I a dog, that you should come at me with a stick?\u2019 Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.\u00a044<\/strong><\/a>Then the Philistine said to David, \u2018Come here, and I will give your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.\u2019\u00a045<\/strong><\/a>David the Philistine replied: \u2018You come against me with a sword, a spear and a battle-axe, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.\u2019\u00a046<\/strong><\/a>Today the Lord will deliver you into my hands. I will kill you and cut off your head. Today I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. And so the whole world will know that God is with Israel.\u00a047<\/strong><\/a>And this whole assembly will realise that the Lord does not save by the sword or the spear. For this battle belongs to the Lord, and he will deliver you into our hands.\u00a048<\/strong><\/a>Then it came to pass that, as the Philistine continued to advance and drew nearer to David, David ran swiftly onto the battlefield to meet the Philistine.\u00a049<\/strong><\/a>David reached into his bag, took a stone from it, slung it from his sling and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone pierced his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.\u00a050<\/strong><\/a>So David overpowered the Philistine with a sling and a stone; he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David had no sword in his hand.\u00a051<\/strong><\/a>Then David ran up, stood over the Philistine, took his sword, drew it from its sheath, killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled.\u00a052<\/strong><\/a>The Israelites and the Judeans rose up, shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath, right up to the gates of Ekron. The slain Philistines lay strewn along the road from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.\u00a053<\/strong><\/a>Then the Israelites returned from pursuing the Philistines and plundered their camp.\u00a054<\/strong><\/a>David took the Philistine\u2019s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he kept his weapons in his tent.\u00a055<\/strong><\/a>When Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, \u2018Whose son is this lad, Abner?\u2019 Abner replied, \u2018As surely as you live, O King, I do not know.\u2019\u00a056<\/strong><\/a>The king said: \u2018Ask whose son that young man is.\u2019\u00a057<\/strong><\/a>So when David returned from the battle against the Philistines, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. He was still holding the Philistine\u2019s head in his hand.\u00a058<\/strong><\/a>Saul asked him, \u2018Whose son are you, lad?\u2019 David replied, \u2018I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n