17:1¹ The Philistines gathered their camps for war. They gathered themselves at Socoh, which is in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. 17:2 Saul and the men of Israel gathered themselves and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to go against the Philistines. 17:3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill, with the valley between them.

17:4 Then a champion² from the camp of the Philistines went forth. His name was Goliath; he was from Gath. He was more than nine feet tall.³ 17:5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and was wearing scale body armor. The weight of his body armor was five thousand bronze shekels.⁴ 17:6 He had bronze greaves⁵ on his legs, and a bronze javelin was hung over his shoulders. 17:7 The shaft⁶ of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the point of his spear weighed six hundred iron shekels.⁷ The shield bearer was going before him.

17:8 He stood and called to the ranks of Israel,⁸ “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose⁹ for yourselves a man and come down to me! 17:9 If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, you will become our servants and will serve us.” 17:10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man so that we can fight together!” 17:11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very fearful.

17:12¹⁰ Now David was the son of this Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah whose name was Jesse. He had eight sons, and in Saul’s days he was old and well advanced in years.¹¹ 17:13 The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul to war. The names of his three sons who had followed him to war were his firstborn Eliab, his second, Abinadab, and his third, Shammah. 17:14 Now David was the youngest. When the three older sons followed Saul, 17:15 David was going back and forth¹² from Saul in order to shepherd his father’s flock in Bethlehem.

17:16 In the meantime for forty days the Philistine approached every morning and evening and took his position. 17:17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take your brothers this ephah of parched grain and these ten loaves of bread and run them to the camp for your brothers. 17:18 Take these ten cheeses to the leader of the thousand. Find out how your brothers are doing and get their pledge. 17:19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”

17:20 So David got up early in the morning and entrusted the flock with a guard. After loading up, he went just as Jesse had instructed him. He arrived at the entrenchment as the army was going forth to the battle front shouting its battle cry. 17:21 Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines opposite one another. 17:22 After David had entrusted his cargo to the care of the supply officer,¹³ he ran to the battle front. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing. 17:23 As he was speaking with them, the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the battle lines of the Philistines. He spoke the way he had previously,¹⁴ and David heard it. 17:24 When all the men of Israel saw this man, they fled from his presence and were very fearful.

17:25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? He does so¹⁵ in order to defy Israel. But the king will make very wealthy the man who can strike him down. He will give him his daughter in marriage, and he will make his father’s house exempt from tax obligations in Israel.”

17:26 David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and removes this reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?” 17:27 The soldiers¹⁶ told him what had been promised saying,¹⁷ “This is what will be done for the man who can strike him down.”

17:28 When his oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry¹⁸ with David and said, “Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your arrogance and duplicity.¹⁹ For you have come down here to watch the battle!”

17:29 David replied, “What have I done now? Can’t I say anything?” 17:30 Then he turned from those who were nearby to someone else and asked the same question,²⁰ but they²¹ gave him the same answer as before. 17:31 When David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, he called for him.²²

17:32 David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged over him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine!” 17:33 But Saul replied to David, “You aren’t able to go against this Philistine to fight with him! You’re just a boy! He has been a warrior from his youth!”

17:34 David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd for his father’s flock. Whenever a lion or bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock, 17:35 I would go out after it, strike it down, and deliver the sheep from its mouth. If it arose against me, I would grab it by its jaw, strike it, and kill it. 17:36 your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them.²³ For he has defied the armies of the living God!” 17:37 David went on to say, “The LORD who delivered me from the lion and the bear will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “Go. The LORD will be with you.”

17:38 Then Saul equipped David with his own garments and put a bronze helmet on his head. He also put body armor on him. 17:39 David strapped on his sword over his garments and attempted to walk, but he was not used to them.²⁴ He said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them. 17:40 He took his staff in his hand, picked out five smooth stones from the wadi, placed them in the pouch²⁵ of his shepherd’s bag, took his sling in hand, and approached the Philistine.

17:41²⁶ The Philistine kept getting closer to David, with his shield bearer going in front of him. 17:42 When the Philistine looked carefully at David, he despised him, for he was only a ruddy and handsome boy. 17:43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you are coming to me with staffs?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. 17:44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the field.”²⁷

17:45 But David replied to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 17:46 This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the corpses of the camp of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the land, so that all the land may realize that Israel has a God 17:47 and so that all this assembly may know that it is not by sword nor by spear that the LORD saves. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

17:48 As the Philistine drew ever closer to David so as to attack him, David quickly ran toward the battle front to attack the Philistine.²⁸ 17:49 David reached his hand into the bag and withdrew a stone. He slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sunk deeply into his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground.

17:50²⁹ So David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. 17:51 Then David ran over and stood by the Philistine. He grasped Goliath’s³⁰ sword, drew it out from its sheath,³¹ put him to death, and decapitated him with it. When the Philistines saw that their warrior was dead, they fled.

17:52 Then the men of Israel and Judah arose, shouting a war cry. They pursued the Philistines to where you come to valley³² and to the gates of Ekron. The Philistine dead lay fallen along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 17:53 When the Israelites returned from their hot pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 17:54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s³³ weapons in his tent.

17:55³⁴ When Saul had watched David going out to encounter the Philistine, he had asked Abner the leader of the army, “Whose son is this boy, Abner?” But Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.” 17:56 The king said, “Inquire as to whose son this young man is.”

17:57 When David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. He still had the head of the Philistine in his hand. 17:58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, boy?” David replied, “I am the son of your servant Jesse in Bethlehem.”