And the Philistines gathered their camps for battle; and they gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and camped between Socoh and Azekah, at Ephes-dammim.
And Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah; and they drew up in battle order to meet the Philistines.
And the Philistines were standing on the mountain on one side, and Israel standing on the mountain on the other side, with the ravine between them.
And a champion came out from the camps of the Philistines — Goliath was his name, from Gath; his height was six cubits and a span.
And a helmet of bronze was on his head, and he was clothed in armor of scales; and the weight of the armor was five thousand shekels of bronze.
And greaves of bronze were on his legs, and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders.
And the shaft of his spear was like a weavers’ beam, and the blade of his spear was six hundred shekels of iron; and the shield-bearer walked before him.
And he stood and called to the battle lines of Israel and said to them: “Why do you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and you servants of Saul? Choose for yourselves a man, and let him come down to me.
If he is able to fight with me and strikes me down, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail over him and strike him down, then you shall become our servants and serve us.”
And the Philistine said, “I defy the battle lines of Israel this day. Give me a man, and let us fight together.”
And Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, and they were shattered and greatly afraid.
David Accepts the Challenge
Now David was the son of that Ephrathite man from Bethlehem of Judah whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons; and in the days of Saul the man was old, advanced among men.
And the three oldest sons of Jesse had gone — they had followed Saul to the battle; and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and his second Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
And David was the youngest; and the three oldest had followed Saul.
And David went back and forth from Saul, to shepherd his father’s flock at Bethlehem.
And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and took his stand forty days.
And Jesse said to David his son: “Take, please, for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and run them to the camp, to your brothers.
And these ten cuts of cheese you shall bring to the commander of the thousand; and check on the welfare of your brothers, and take their pledge.”
Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
And David rose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper, and lifted his load and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the circle of the camp as the army was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry.
And Israel and the Philistines drew up, battle line to meet battle line.
And David left the things that were on him in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the battle line; and he came and asked his brothers of their welfare.
And as he was speaking with them — look, the champion coming up, Goliath the Philistine by name, from Gath, out of the battle lines of the Philistines; and he spoke the same words, and David heard.
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from before him and were greatly afraid.
And the men of Israel said: “Have you seen this man who comes up? Surely he comes up to defy Israel. And it shall be, the man who strikes him down — the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and will make his father’s house free in Israel.”
And David said to the men standing with him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the battle lines of the living God?”
And the people told him the same word, saying, “So it will be done for the man who strikes him down.”
And Eliab his oldest brother heard as he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said: “Why is it you have come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the evil of your heart — for you have come down to watch the battle.”
And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not only a word?”
And he turned away from him toward another and said the same word; and the people returned him an answer like the first.
And the words that David spoke were heard, and they told them before Saul; and he took him.
And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fall because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him — for you are a boy, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
And David said to Saul: “Your servant was shepherding the flock for his father, and a lion would come, or a bear, and carry off a sheep from the herd;
and I would go out after it and strike it, and rescue the sheep from its mouth. And if it rose against me, I would seize it by its beard, and strike it, and put it to death.
Both the lion and the bear your servant has struck down — and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the battle lines of the living God.”
And David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear — he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go — and may the LORD be with you.”
David Slays Goliath
And Saul clothed David in his own garments, and put a helmet of bronze on his head, and clothed him in armor.
And David strapped on his sword over his garments and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk in these, for I have not tested them.” And David took them off.
And he took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones from the streambed, and put them in the shepherd’s bag that he had, in the pouch; and his sling was in his hand. And he approached the Philistine.
And the Philistine came on, coming nearer and nearer to David, with the man carrying the shield before him.
And the Philistine looked and saw David, and despised him — for he was a boy, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance.
And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the field.”
And David said to the Philistine: “You come to me with sword and with spear and with javelin — but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day the LORD will shut you up in my hand, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you; and I will give the corpses of the camp of the Philistines this day to the birds of the heavens and to the wild animals of the earth — and all the earth will know that Israel has a God.
And all this assembly will know that not by sword and spear does the LORD save — for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
And it was, when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
And David reached his hand into the bag, and took from there a stone, and slung it; and he struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone; and he struck the Philistine and put him to death — and there was no sword in David’s hand.
And David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it from its sheath, and put him to death, and cut off his head with it. And the Philistines saw that their mighty man was dead, and they fled.
And the men of Israel and Judah rose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the ravine and as far as the gates of Ekron; and the slain of the Philistines fell on the way to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and as far as Ekron.
And the sons of Israel returned from hotly pursuing the Philistines, and they plundered their camps.
And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but his weapons he put in his own tent.
And when Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Whose son is this boy, Abner?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.”
And the king said, “You ask whose son the young man is.”
And as David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, boy?” And David said, “The son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
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