1 Samuel 17:34–58

³⁴But David said to Saul, “I’ve been taking care of my father’s sheep. Sometimes a lion or a bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock. ³⁵Then I would go after it and hit it. I would save the sheep it was carrying in its mouth. If it turned around to attack me, I would grab hold of its hair. I would strike it down and kill it. ³⁶In fact, I’ve killed both a lion and a bear. I’ll do the same thing to this Philistine. He isn’t even circumcised. He has dared the armies of the living God to fight him.

³⁷“The Lord saved me from the paw of the lion. He saved me from the paw of the bear. And he’ll save me from the powerful hand of this Philistine too.”

Saul said to David, “Go. And may the Lord be with you.”

³⁸Then Saul dressed David in his own military clothes. He put a coat of armor on him. He put a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹David put on Saul’s sword over his clothes. He walked around for a while in all of that armor because he wasn’t used to it.

“I can’t go out there in all of this armor,” he said to Saul. “I’m not used to it.” So he took it off.

⁴⁰Then David picked up his wooden staff. He went down to a stream and chose five smooth stones. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag. Then he took his sling in his hand and approached Goliath.

⁴¹At that same time, the Philistine kept coming closer to David. The man who was carrying Goliath’s shield walked along in front of him.

⁴²Goliath looked David over. He saw how young he was. He also saw how tanned and handsome he was. And he hated him. ⁴³He said to David, “Why are you coming at me with sticks? Do you think I’m only a dog?” The Philistine called down curses on David in the name of his god. ⁴⁴“Come over here,” he said. “I’ll feed your body to the birds of the air! I’ll feed it to the wild animals!”

⁴⁵David said to Goliath, “You are coming to fight against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin. But I’m coming against you in the name of the Lord who rules over all. He is the God of the armies of Israel. He’s the one you have dared to fight against.

⁴⁶“This very day the Lord will hand you over to me. I’ll strike you down. I’ll cut your head off. This very day I’ll feed the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air. I’ll feed them to the wild animals. Then the whole world will know there is a God in Israel.

⁴⁷“The Lord doesn’t save by using a sword or a spear. And everyone who is here will know it. The battle belongs to the Lord. He will hand all of you over to us.”

⁴⁸As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹He reached into his bag. He took out a stone. He put it in his sling. He slung it at Goliath. The stone hit him on the forehead and sank into it. He fell to the ground on his face.

⁵⁰So David won the fight against Goliath with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine down and killed him. He did it without even using a sword.

⁵¹David ran and stood over him. He took hold of Goliath’s sword and pulled it out. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

The Philistines saw that their hero was dead. So they turned around and ran away.

⁵²Then the men of Israel and Judah shouted and rushed forward. They chased the Philistines to the entrance of Gath. They chased them to the gates of Ekron. The dead bodies of the Philistines were scattered all along the road to Gath and Ekron. That’s the road that leads to Shaaraim.

⁵³Israel’s army returned from chasing the Philistines. They had taken everything from the Philistine camp.

⁵⁴David picked up Goliath’s head. He brought it to Jerusalem. He put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵Saul had been watching David as he went out to meet the Philistine. He spoke to Abner, the commander of the army. He said to him, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”

Abner replied, “King Saul, I don’t know. And that’s just as sure as you are alive.”

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

⁵⁷After David killed Goliath, he returned to the camp. Then Abner brought him to Saul. David was still carrying Goliath’s head.

⁵⁸“Young man, whose son are you?” Saul asked him.

David said, “I’m the son of Jesse from Bethlehem.”