1 Samuel 17:34–58

³⁴And David said to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group, ³⁵I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab it by its beard and strike it down and kill it. ³⁶Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God.”

³⁷And David said, “Yahweh, who rescued me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “Go and may Yahweh be with you!” ³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with body armor. ³⁹Then David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire, but he tried in vain to walk around, for he was not trained to use them. So David said to Saul, “I am not able to walk with these, because I am not trained to use them.” So David removed them. ⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi,^d and he put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹Then the Philistine came on, getting nearer and nearer^e to David, with his shield bearer^f in front of him. ⁴²When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was only a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance. ⁴³So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you are coming to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴The Philistine said to David, “Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!” ⁴⁵Then David said to the Philistine, “You are coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied! ⁴⁶This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head!^g Then I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God who is for Israel. ⁴⁷And all of this assembly will know that Yahweh does not rescue with sword or with spear, for the battle belongs to Yahweh, and he will give you into our hands!”

David Defeats Goliath

⁴⁸When^h the Philistine got up and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quicklyⁱ to the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹Then David put his hand into the bag and took a stone from it and slung it. He struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. ⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David’s hand.

⁵¹Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it from its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵²The men of Israel and Judah got up, raised the war cry, and pursued the Philistines as far as^j the valley^k and up to the gates of Ekron. So the slain of the Philistines fell on the way^l to Shaaraim up to Gath and as far as Ekron. ⁵³Then the Israelites^m returned from pursuing the Philistines and plundered their camp. ⁵⁴And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem and placed his weapons in his tent.

⁵⁵Now when Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” ⁵⁶Then the king said, “You inquire whose son this young man is.” ⁵⁷So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. The head of the Philistine was in his hand. ⁵⁸Then Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”