1 Samuel 17:34–58

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?” And ^bthe Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh ^ato the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”

⁴⁵Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, ^abut I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

⁴⁶“This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the ^adead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, ^bthat all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

⁴⁷and that all this assembly may know that ^athe Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; ^bfor the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”

⁴⁸Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that ^aDavid ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

⁴⁹And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand.

⁵¹Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and ^atook his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. ^bWhen the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

⁵²The men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines ¹as far as the valley, and to the gates of ^aEkron. And the slain Philistines ²lay along the way to ^bShaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron.

⁵³The sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their camps.

⁵⁴Then David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

⁵⁵Now when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is ^athis young man?” And Abner said, “By your life, O king, I do not know.”

⁵⁶The king said, “You inquire whose son the youth is.”

⁵⁷So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and ^abrought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand.

⁵⁸Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “^aI am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”