1 Samuel 17:34–58

³⁴David replied to Saul, “I am a shepherd for my father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. If it attacked me, I took hold of its mane, struck it, and killed it. ³⁶I have killed lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has challenged the army of the living God.” ³⁷David added, “The Lord, who saved me from the lion and the bear, will save me from this Philistine.” 

“Go,” Saul told David, “and may the Lord be with you.” 

³⁸Saul put his battle tunic on David; he put a bronze helmet on David’s head and dressed him in armor. ³⁹David fastened Saul’s sword over his clothes and tried to walk, but he had never practiced doing this. “I can’t walk in these things,” David told Saul. “I’ve never had any practice doing this.” So David took all those things off. 

⁴⁰He took his stick with him, picked out five smooth stones from the riverbed, and put them in his shepherd’s bag. With a sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. ⁴¹The Philistine, preceded by the man carrying his shield, was coming closer and closer to David. ⁴²When the Philistine got a good look at David, he despised him. After all, David was a young man with a healthy complexion and good looks. 

⁴³The Philistine asked David, “Am I a dog that you come to ⸤attack⸥ me with sticks?” So the Philistine called on his gods to curse David. ⁴⁴“Come on,” the Philistine told David, “and I’ll give your body to the birds.” 

⁴⁵David told the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have insulted. ⁴⁶Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. And this day I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals. The whole world will know that Israel has a God. ⁴⁷Then everyone gathered here will know that the Lord can save without sword or spear, because the Lord determines every battle’s outcome. He will hand all of you over to us.” 

⁴⁸When the Philistine moved closer in order to attack, David quickly ran toward the opposing battle line to attack the Philistine. ⁴⁹Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, hurled it from his sling, and struck the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank into Goliath’s forehead, and he fell to the ground on his face. ⁵⁰So using ⸤only⸥ a sling and a stone, David proved to be stronger than the Philistine. David struck down and killed the Philistine, even though David didn’t have a sword in his hand. ⁵¹David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took Goliath’s sword, pulled it out of its sheath, and made certain the Philistine was dead by cutting off his head. 

When the Philistines saw their hero had been killed, they fled. ⁵²Then the soldiers of Israel and Judah rose up, shouted a battle cry, and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Wounded Philistines lay on the road to Shaaraim and all the way to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³When the Israelites came back from their pursuit of the Philistines, they looted all the goods in the Philistine camp. ⁵⁴David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath’s armor in his tent. 

⁵⁵As Saul watched David going out against the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” 

Abner answered, “I solemnly swear, as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.” 

⁵⁶The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.” 

⁵⁷When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner brought him to Saul. David had the Philistine’s head in his hand. 

⁵⁸Saul asked him, “Whose son are you, young man?” 

“The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered.