17 ¶ Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongs to Judah, and pitched camp between Shochoh and Azekah in Ephesdammim.

² And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched camp by the valley of Elah and ordered the battle against the Philistines.

³ And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side; and there was a valley between them.

⁴ And a man named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span, came out of the camp of the Philistines and stood between the two camps.

⁵ And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail of scales; and the weight of the coat of mail was five thousand shekels of brass.

⁶ And he had greaves of brass upon his legs and a shield of brass between his shoulders.

⁷ And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before him.

⁸ And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye slaves to Saul? Choose a man from among you, and let him come down to me.

⁹ If he is able to fight with me and to overcome me, then will we be your slaves, but if I prevail against him and overcome him, then ye shall be our slaves and serve us.

¹⁰ And the Philistine said, I have dishonoured the ranks 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 ¶ And David was the son of an Ephrathite man of Bethlehem of Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons, and this man was old in the days of Saul and of advanced age among men.

¹³ And the three eldest sons of Jesse had gone and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab and the third Shammah.

¹⁴ And David was the youngest, the three eldest having gone after Saul.

¹⁵ But David had gone and returned from being with Saul to feed his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

¹⁶ And the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself for forty days.

¹⁷ And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to thy brethren

¹⁸ and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand and look how thy brethren fare and take their pledge.

¹⁹ Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.

²⁰ And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went with his burden as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the trench as the host was going forth in battle array, and they had already sounded the alarm for the battle.

²¹ For Israel and the Philistines had ordered the battle, army against army.

²² And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army and came and asked about his brethren, if they were well.

²³ And as he talked with them, behold, there came up that man, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, speaking the same words, and David heard them.

²⁴ And all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and feared greatly.

²⁵ And each one of the men of Israel were saying, Have ye seen this man that is come up? He is come up to dishonour Israel. It shall be that the king will enrich the man who overcomes him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.

²⁶ Then David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that overcomes this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should dishonour the armies of the living God?

²⁷ And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that overcomes him.

²⁸ And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke unto the men, and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why didst thou come down here? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the malice of thy heart, for thou art come down that thou might see the battle.

²⁹ And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

³⁰ And he turned from him toward another and spoke after the same manner, and the people answered him again after the former manner.

³¹ ¶ And the words which David had spoken were heard, and they were rehearsed before Saul, and he sent for him.

³² And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy slave will go and fight with this Philistine.

³³ And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a young man, and he a man of war from his youth.

³⁴ And David replied unto Saul, Thy slave was the pastor of his father’s sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,

³⁵ I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him.

³⁶ Whether it was a lion or a bear thy slave would kill it, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has dishonoured the armies of the living God.

³⁷ David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

³⁸ And Saul clothed David with his clothing, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head; he also armed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹ And David girded Saul’s sword upon Saul’s clothing, and he undertook to go, for he had not proved them. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And putting them off, David

⁴⁰ ¶ took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a provision bag, and with his sling in his hand he drew near to the Philistine.

⁴¹ And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David, and the man that bore the shield went before him.

⁴² And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance.

⁴³ And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴ And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the heaven and to the beasts of the field.

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of the hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast dishonoured.

⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee and take thy head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the heaven and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

⁴⁷ And all this congregation shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hands.

⁴⁸ ¶ And it came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David that David hastened and ran to do battle against the Philistine.

⁴⁹ And David put his hand in his bag and took a stone from there and slang it and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone remained sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.

⁵⁰ So David overcame the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David.

⁵¹ Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and slew him and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw their giant was dead, they fled.

⁵² And the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines unto the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath and unto Ekron.

⁵³ And the sons of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents.

⁵⁴ And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

⁵⁵ And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul lives, O king, I cannot tell.

⁵⁶ And the king said, Enquire whose son the young man is.

⁵⁷ And 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 And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy slave Jesse of Bethlehem.