1 Samuel 16–17

And the Lord said unto Samuel, ^aHow long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing ^bI have rejected him from reigning over Israel? ^cfill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for ^dI have provided me a king among his sons. ²And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, ^eI am come to sacrifice to the Lord. ³And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and ^fI will shew thee what thou shalt do: and ^gthou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. ⁴And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town ^htrembled at his coming, and said, ⁱComest thou peaceably? ⁵And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: ^ksanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. ⁶And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and ^lsaid, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. ⁷But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on ^mhis countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the ⁿheart. ⁸Then Jesse called ^oAbinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. ⁹Then Jesse made ^oShammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. ¹⁰Again, Jesse made ^pseven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. ¹¹And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, ^pThere remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, ^qSend and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. ¹²And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ^rruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And ^sthe Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. ¹³Then Samuel took ^tthe horn of oil, and ^uanointed him in the midst of his brethren; and ^xthe spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to ^yRamah.

¹⁴But ^zthe spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and ^aan evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. ¹⁵And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. ¹⁶Let our lord now command thy servants which are ^bbefore thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on a harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall ^cplay with his hand, and thou shalt be well. ¹⁷And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. ¹⁸Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and ^da mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and ^ethe Lord is with him. ¹⁹Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, ^fwhich is with the sheep. ²⁰And Jesse ^gtook an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. ²¹And David came to Saul, and ^hstood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. ²²And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. ²³And it came to pass, when ⁱthe evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was ^krefreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

XVII.Now the Philistines ^agathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at ^bShochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and ^cAzekah, in Ephes-dammim. ²And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by ^dthe valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. ³And 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. ⁴And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named ^eGoliath, of ^fGath, whose height was six cubits and a span. ⁵And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. ⁶And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. ⁷And 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. ⁸And 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 not I a Philistine, and you ^gservants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. ⁹If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and ^hserve us. ¹⁰And the Philistine said, I ⁱdefy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. ¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

¹²Now David was ^jthe son of that ^kEphrathite of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had ^leight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. ¹³And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the ^mnames of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. ¹⁴And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul. ¹⁵But David went and returned from Saul ⁿto feed his father’s sheep at Beth-lehem. ¹⁶And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. ¹⁷And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; ¹⁸And ^ocarry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look ^phow thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. ¹⁹Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. ²⁰And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. ²¹For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. ²²And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. ²³And as he talked with them, behold, there came up ^qthe champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake ^raccording to the same words: and David heard them. ²⁴And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. ²⁵And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and ^swill give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel. ²⁶And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away ^tthe reproach from Israel? for who is this ^uuncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of ^xthe living God? ²⁷And the people answered him after this manner, saying, ^ySo shall it be done to the man that killeth him. ²⁸And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. ²⁹And David said, What have I now done? ^zIs there not a cause? ³⁰And he turned from him towards another, and ^aspake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner. ³¹And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.

³²And David said to Saul, ^bLet no man’s heart fail because of him; ^cthy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. ³³And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. ³⁴And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: ³⁵and I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. ³⁶Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this ^duncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, ^dseeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷David said moreover, ^eThe 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 ^fthe Lord be with thee. ³⁸And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. ³⁹And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. ⁴⁰And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. ⁴¹And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and ^gthe man that bare the shield went before him. ⁴²And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ^hruddy, and of a fair countenance. ⁴³And the…