UST 1SA Chapter 17

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17 The Philistines brought their soldiers to fight against the Israelite army. They assembled near the town of Sokoh within the territory of the tribe of Judah. They set up their tents in the area that people called Ephes Dammim, which is between Sokoh and the town of Azekah. 2 Saul gathered the Israelite solders, and they set up their tents near the Valley of Elah. Then they formed battle lines in order to be ready to fight the Philistines. 3 The Philistine and Israelite armies formed their battle lines on two hills on opposite sides of the valley. 4 Then a great warrior, three meters tall, came out from the Philistine camp. His name was Goliath, and he came from the city of Gath. 5 He wore a helmet made of bronze to protect his head, and he wore body armor that had small overlapping metal plates to protect his body. The metal armor weighed over 50 kilograms. 6 He wore bronze armor on his legs to protect them. He had slung a small bronze spear across his back. 7 He also had a spear that was so thick and long it was like the beam that weavers use. Its iron head weighed about seven kilograms. A soldier carrying Goliath’s huge shield walked in front of him. 8 Goliath stood there and shouted to the Israelite army, “There is no need for our entire armies to fight each other. You can see that I am a Philistine soldier who is ready to fight alone on behalf of my people group. Someone ought to be able to represent all of you servants of Saul. Choose one man who can fight on behalf of all of you and send him down into this valley where I am! 9 If he can fight with me and kill me, then my fellow Philistines will all become your slaves. But if I can fight with him and kill him, then all of you Israelites will become our slaves instead.” 10 Then Goliath mocked the Israelites. He said, “I now claim publicly, to your shame, that none of you Israelite soldiers is brave enough to fight me! If that is not true, send a man down here who will fight with me!” 11 When Saul and all the Israelite soldiers heard Goliath say this, they lost their courage and became terrified. 12 Now there was a young man whose name was David. His father was a man whose name was Jesse who belonged to the clan of Ephrath. He lived in the town of Bethlehem within the territory of the tribe of Judah. Jesse had eight sons. When Saul was king, Jesse had already lived for many years, so he was older than most other men. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had gone to fight the Philistines with Saul as their commander. The name of Jesse’s oldest son was Eliab. His two younger brothers were Abinadab and Shammah. 14 David was Jesse’s youngest son. While his three oldest brothers remained in Saul’s camp, 15 David went back and forth from the camp to his home in Bethlehem so that he could take care of his father’s sheep. 16 Twice each day, in the morning and in the evening, Goliath came out from the Philistine camp and stood in the valley between the two armies. He challenged the Israelites to choose one man to fight with him. He did that for 40 days. 17 One day, Jesse said to his son David, “Here is a large sack of roasted grain and ten loaves of bread. Take them quickly to your older brothers at the army camp. 18 Also, take these ten large chunks of cheese as a gift to the commander of their group of one thousand soldiers. And see if your older brothers are doing well. If they are safe, bring back something to show they are all right. 19 You will be able to find your brothers near the Valley of Elah. They are camping there with Saul and the other Israelite soldiers, ready to fight the Philistines.” 20 So David arranged for another shepherd to take care of the sheep. Early the next morning he took the food that Jesse had told him to bring and went to the Israelite camp. He arrived at the edge of the camp just as the Israelite soldiers were going out into their battle lines. As they went, they were shouting a war cry. 21 The Philistine army and the Israelite army stood in their battle lines on the hillsides above the valley, facing each other, ready for battle. 22 David gave the containers of food he had brought to the man who was in charge of the supplies for the army. Then he ran to the battle lines and greeted his older brothers. He asked them if they were doing well. 23 While David was speaking with them, something happened that immediately got his attention. Someone came into the valley between the battle lines. This was the man whom people called Goliath the Philistine Champion. He was from the city of Gath. He came forward from the Philistine battle lines and once again challenged any Israelite soldier to fight him in single combat. David heard what Goliath said. 24 When all the Israelite soldiers saw Goliath, they were terrified and backed away from him. 25 The soldiers were saying to each other, “See how this man defiantly approaches us! And hear how he mocks us Israelite soldiers! The king has said that he will give a huge reward to whoever kills this man. He also says that he will allow that man to marry his daughter, and that he will no longer require that man’s family to pay taxes or do unpaid work for the Israelite kingdom.” 26 David talked with some of the men who were standing near him. He said, “This Philistine is a mere pagan. He should not be mocking soldiers who worship the only true God. Please confirm for me what the king will give to the soldier who kills this Philistine and stops him from shaming us Israelites.” 27 Those men told him the same thing that the other men had said about what the king would do for anyone who killed Goliath. 28 But when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard David talking to the men, he became very angry with him. He said to David, “You should not have come here! You are supposed to be watching our father’s small flock of sheep, but I imagine you left them alone in a desolate pastureland. I know you think you have a right to be here, but you do not. You do not have good motives. You came because you want to watch the battle!” 29 David replied, “I have done nothing wrong! I was merely asking a question!” 30 Then David walked over to another man and asked him the same question, and the man gave him the same answer. Each time he asked different soldiers, they all gave him the same answer. 31 Eventually some of King Saul’s officers heard about what David was asking, and they told Saul. Then Saul sent someone to bring David to him. 32 David told King Saul, “No one should despair because of him. I will go and fight with that Philistine man!” 33 Saul said to David, “You are only a young man, while he has been a very powerful soldier ever since he was a young man. He is the Philistine champion. So you are not able to go and fight with him!” 34 David replied, “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep for many years. During that time, whenever a lion or a bear came and carried a lamb away from the others, 35 I went after it and hit it and rescued the lamb from the animal’s mouth. If it turned to attack me, I grabbed the animal by its jaw and hit it and killed it. 36 So I have killed both lions and bears. And since he has mocked soldiers who worship the only true God, I will kill this pagan Philistine too!” 37 David continued, “Yahweh has enabled me to kill both lions and bears, and he will also enable me to kill this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “All right, go and fight him, and I hope that Yahweh will help you!” 38 Then Saul let David wear the special clothes that he wore under his armor in battles, and he also gave him a bronze helmet to wear and some body armor that had small overlapping metal plates. 39 David put these things on. Saul also gave David his sword, and David strapped that on over them. Since David had not worn armor before, he walked around to find out what it was like to walk wearing armor. Then David told Saul, “I am not used to wearing these things, so I can not fight while wearing them!” So he took them off. 40 Then he picked up his shepherd’s staff, and he went to a a stream bed and chose five smooth stones. He put those stones in the leather bag he always wore around his shoulder as a shepherd. Then he took his sling in his hand, and he started walking toward Goliath. 41 Goliath walked steadily toward David, with the soldier who was carrying his shield walking in front of him. 42 When he got near David, Goliath looked at David closely. He believed he could easily defeat David because he was only a young man. David still had a handsome, boyish appearance. 43 Goliath said to David, “You might be able to chase away a dog with a stick like the one you are carrying, but I am not a dog!” Then he called out to his gods and asked them to harm David. 44 He said to David, “Come here, and I will kill you and give your dead body to the birds and wild animals to eat!” 45 David replied, “You are coming to attack me with a sword and a spear and a curved sword. But I am coming to you with the authority of Yahweh, commander of the angel armies. You have mocked the Israelite soldiers who worship him, and that is like mocking Yahweh himself. 46 Today Yahweh will enable me to defeat you. I will kill you and cut off your head. And today we Israelites will kill many Philistine soldiers and give their bodies to the birds and wild animals to eat. People throughout the world will hear about it, and they will know that we Israelite people worship an all-powerful God. 47 And all of the soldiers who have gathered here will recognize that Yahweh does not need to use weapons such as swords or spears in order to rescue people. It is actually Yahweh who will be fighting this battle against you, and he will enable us to defeat all of you Philistines.” 48 Then Goliath started to come closer in order to attack David. David ran quickly toward him, in the direction of the Philistine battle line. 49 David reached into his shoulder bag and took out a stone. He put in his sling and hurled it at Goliath. The stone hit Goliath in the forehead and broke into the bone at the front his skull. Goliath collapsed facedown onto the ground. 50-51 50-51Then David ran and stood over Goliath. He pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath and killed him with it, and then he cut off his head. In that way David defeated the Philistine champion. He was able to attack him and kill him even though he did not have a sword. He used only a sling and a stone! When the other Philistines saw that their great warrior was dead, they ran away. 52 The Israelite soldiers rushed out of their battle line and ran after them, shouting. They chased them all the way back down the Valley of Elah and all the way to the city of Ekron. The Philistines fled for safety inside the city walls and shut the gates behind them. The Israelites killed Philistine soldiers as they went, so that dead Philistines were lying on the road all the way from the city of Shaaraim to the cities of Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites came back after chasing the Philistines, they took everything valuable from the Philistine camp. 54 David later took Goliath’s head to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath’s weapons and armor at home in his own tent. 55 As Saul watched David going toward Goliath, he said to Abner, the commander of his army, “Abner, who is the father of that young man?” Abner replied, “I swear by your life, O king, that I do not know.” 56 Then Saul told him, “I want you personally to find out who his father is.” 57 So later, when David returned from killing Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul. David was carrying Goliath’s head. 58 Saul asked him, “Young man, who is your father?” David replied, “Sir, my father is the man whose name is Jesse who lives in the town of Bethlehem. He is your loyal subject.”

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