1 Samuel 17-19

1Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.

2Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines.

3The Philistines stood on one hill and the Israelites stood on another, with the valley between them.

4Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

5and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels,

6and he had armor of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.

7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. In addition, his shield bearer went before him.

8And Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and array yourselves for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.

9If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and work for us.”

10Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man to fight!”

11On hearing the words of the Philistine, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and greatly afraid.

12Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, Jesse was old and well along in years.

13The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle: The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah.

14And David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul,

15but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

16For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.

17One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.

18Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them.

19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

20So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry.

21And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.

22Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.

23And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard.

24When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear.

25Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”

26David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

27The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

28Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!”

29“What have I done now?” said David. “Was it not just a question?”

30Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered.

31Now David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.

32And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!”

33But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

34David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,

35I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.

36Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

37David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” “Go,” said Saul, “and may the LORD be with you.”

38Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor.

39David strapped his sword over the tunic and tried to walk, but he was not accustomed to them. “I cannot walk in these,” David said to Saul. “I am not accustomed to them.” So David took them off.

40And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.

41Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him.

42When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome.

43“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

45But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

46This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

47And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”

48As the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.

49Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

50Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

51David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword and pulled it from its sheath and killed him, and he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.

52Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.

53When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps.

54David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.

55As Saul had watched David going out to confront the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” “As surely as you live, O king,” Abner replied, “I do not know.”

56“Find out whose son this young man is!” said the king.

57So when David returned from killing the Philistine, still holding his head in his hand, Abner took him and brought him before Saul.

58“Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.

1After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

2And from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house.

3Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

4And Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

5So David marched out and prospered in everything Saul sent him to do, and Saul set him over the men of war. And this was pleasing in the sight of all the people, and of Saul’s officers as well.

6As the troops were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, and with tambourines and other instruments.

7And as the women danced, they sang out: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”

8And Saul was furious and resented this song. “They have ascribed tens of thousands to David,” he said, “but only thousands to me. What more can he have but the kingdom?”

9And from that day forward Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

10The next day a spirit of distress sent from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house while David played the harp as usual. Now Saul was holding a spear,

11and he hurled it, thinking, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.

12So Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had departed from Saul.

13Therefore Saul sent David away and gave him command of a thousand men. David led the troops out to battle and back,

14and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.

15When Saul saw that David was very successful, he was afraid of him.

16But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he was leading them out to battle and back.

17Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I need not raise my hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

18And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the son-in-law of the king?”

19So when it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.

20Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

21“I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”

22Then Saul ordered his servants, “Speak to David privately and tell him, ‘Behold, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become his son-in-law.’”

23But when Saul’s servants relayed these words to David, he replied, “Does it seem trivial in your sight to be the son-in-law of the king? I am a poor man and lightly esteemed.”

24And the servants told Saul what David had said.

25Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

26When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived,

27David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as payment in full to become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David in marriage.

28When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David,

29he grew even more afraid of David. So from then on Saul was David’s enemy.

30Every time the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers, so that his name was highly esteemed.

1Then Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan delighted greatly in David,

2so he warned David, saying, “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning; find a secret place and hide there.

3I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, so I can ask about you. And if I find out anything, I will tell you.”

4Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.

5He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”

6Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”

7So Jonathan summoned David and told him all these things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.

8When war broke out again, David went out and fought the Philistines and struck them with such a mighty blow that they fled before him.

9But as Saul was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, a spirit of distress from the LORD came upon him. While David was playing the harp,

10Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear. But David eluded him and the spear struck the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

11Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”

12So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.

13Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.

14When Saul sent the messengers to seize David, Michal said, “He is ill.”

15But Saul sent the messengers back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so I can kill him.”

16And when the messengers entered, there was the idol in the bed with the goat hair on its head.

17And Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!” Michal replied, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away, or I will kill you!’”

18So David ran away and escaped. And he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.

19When Saul was told that David was at Naioth in Ramah,

20he sent messengers to seize him. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel leading them, the Spirit of God came upon them, and Saul’s messengers also began to prophesy.

21When this was reported to Saul, he sent more messengers, but they began to prophesy as well. So Saul tried again and sent messengers a third time, and even they began to prophesy.

22Finally, Saul himself left for Ramah and came to the large cistern at Secu, where he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” “At Naioth in Ramah,” he was told.

23So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. But the Spirit of God came upon even Saul, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

24Then Saul stripped off his robes and also prophesied before Samuel. And he collapsed and lay naked all that day and night. That is why it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”