1 Samuel 16–17

Chapter 16

Samuel Goes to Bethlehem

¹Now the Lord said to Samuel, “^aHow long will you grieve over Saul, since ^bI have rejected him from being king over Israel? ^cFill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to ^dJesse the Bethlehemite, for I have ^eselected a king for Myself among his sons.”

²But Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “^aTake a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

³“You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and ^aI will show you what you shall do; and ^byou shall anoint for Me the one whom I ¹designate to you.”

⁴So Samuel did what the Lord said, and came to ^aBethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “^bDo you come in peace?”

⁵He said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. ^aConsecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶When they entered, he looked at ^aEliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.”

⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for ¹God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, ^abut the Lord looks at the heart.”

⁸Then Jesse called ^aAbinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”

⁹Next Jesse made ^1aShammah pass by. And he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”

¹⁰Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”

¹¹And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “^aThere remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and ¹bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”

David Anointed

¹²So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with ^abeautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, “^bArise, anoint him; for this is he.”

¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil and ^aanointed him in the midst of his brothers; and ^bthe Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

^14aNow the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and ^ban evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him.

¹⁵Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you.

¹⁶“Let our lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that ^ahe shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.”

¹⁷So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.”

¹⁸Then one of the young men said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, ^aa mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and ^bthe Lord is with him.”

¹⁹So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David who is with the flock.”

²⁰Jesse ^atook a donkey loaded with bread and a jug of wine and a young goat, and sent them to Saul by David his son.

²¹Then David came to Saul and ^1aattended him; and ²Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer.

²²Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David now stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.”

²³So it came about whenever ^athe evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.

Chapter 17

Goliath’s Challenge

¹Now ^athe Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah, and they camped between ^bSocoh and ^cAzekah, in ^dEphes-dammim.

²Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in ^athe valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines.

³The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them.

⁴Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named ^aGoliath, from ^bGath, whose height was six ¹cubits and a span.

⁵He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor ¹which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.

⁶He also had bronze ¹greaves on his legs and a ^abronze javelin slung between his shoulders.

^7aThe shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; ^bhis shield-carrier also walked before him.

⁸He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you ^aservants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.

⁹“^aIf he is able to fight with me and ¹kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.”

¹⁰Again the Philistine said, “^aI defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.”

¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

¹²Now David was ^athe son of ¹the ^bEphrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and ^che had eight sons. And ²Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men.

¹³The three older sons of Jesse had ¹gone after Saul to the battle. And ^athe names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and the second to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

^14aDavid was the youngest. Now the three oldest followed Saul,

^15abut David went back and forth from Saul ^bto tend his father’s flock at Bethlehem.

¹⁶The Philistine came ¹forward morning and evening for forty days and took his stand.

¹⁷Then Jesse said to David his son, “^aTake now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to your brothers.

¹⁸“^aBring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their thousand, ^band look into the welfare of your brothers, and bring back ¹news of them.

¹⁹“For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”

David Accepts the Challenge

²⁰So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the ^acircle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array shouting the war cry.

²¹Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle array, army against army.

²²Then David left his ^abaggage in the ¹care of the baggage keeper, and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brothers.

²³As he was talking with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath named Goliath, was coming up from the army of the Philistines, and he spoke ^athese same words; and David heard them.

²⁴When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid.

²⁵The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and ^awill give him his daughter and make his father’s house ¹free in Israel.”

²⁶Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away ^athe reproach from Israel? For who is this ^buncircumcised Philistine, that he should ^ctaunt the armies of ^dthe living God?”

²⁷The people ¹answered him in accord with this word, saying, “^aThus it will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and ^aEliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.”

²⁹But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a ¹question?”

³⁰Then he turned ¹away from him to another and ^asaid the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as ²before.

David Kills Goliath

³¹When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them ¹to Saul, and he sent for him.

³²David said to Saul, “^aLet no man’s heart fail on account of him; ^byour servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

³³Then Saul said to David, “^aYou are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.”

³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,

³⁵I went out after him and ¹attacked him, and ^arescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

³⁶“Your servant has ¹killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.”

³⁷And David said, “^aThe Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “^bGo, and may the Lord be with you.”

³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor.

³⁹David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” And David took them ¹off.

⁴⁰He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his pouch, and ^ahis sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him.

⁴²When the Philistine looked and saw David, ^ahe disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ^bruddy, with a handsome appearance.

⁴³The Philistine said to David, “^aAm I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?”…