1 Samuel 16–24

Samuel Anoints David

16The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn^u for Saul, since I have rejected^v him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil^w and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse^x of Bethlehem. I have chosen^y one of his sons to be king.”

²But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show^z you what to do. You are to anoint^a for me the one I indicate.”

⁴Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem,^b the elders of the town trembled^c when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?^d”

⁵Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate^e yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab^f and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance,^g but the Lord looks at the heart.”^h

⁸Then Jesse called Abinadabⁱ and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ⁹Jesse then had Shammah^j pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹So he asked Jesse, “Are these all^k the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”^l

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

¹²So he^m sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsomeⁿ features.

Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

¹³So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed^o him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord^p came powerfully upon David.^q Samuel then went to Ramah.

David in Saul’s Service

¹⁴Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed^r from Saul, and an evil^a spirit^s from the Lord tormented him.^t

¹⁵Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre.^u He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.”

¹⁷So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.”

¹⁸One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse^v of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior.^w He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with^x him.”

¹⁹Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.^y” ²⁰So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread,^z a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.

²¹David came to Saul and entered his service.^a Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. ²²Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.”

²³Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit^b would leave him.

David and Goliath

17Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled^c at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh^d and Azekah.^{e 2}Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah^f and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. ³The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

⁴A champion named Goliath,^g who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.^{a 5}He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels^b; ⁶on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin^h was slung on his back. ⁷His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod,ⁱ and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.^c His shield bearer^j went ahead of him.

⁸Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose^k a man and have him come down to me. ⁹If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” ¹⁰Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy^l the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.^m” ¹¹On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

¹²Now David was the son of an Ephrathiteⁿ named Jesse,^o who was from Bethlehem^p in Judah. Jesse had eight^q sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. ¹³Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab;^r the second, Abinadab;^s and the third, Shammah.^{t 14}David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, ¹⁵but David went back and forth from Saul to tend^u his father’s sheep^v at Bethlehem.

¹⁶For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

¹⁷Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah^dw of roasted grain^x and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers^y are and bring back some assurance^e from them. ¹⁹They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. ²¹Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. ²²David left his things with the keeper of supplies,^z ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual^a defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

²⁵Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter^b in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes^c in Israel.”

²⁶David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace^d from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised^e Philistine that he should defy^f the armies of the living^g God?”

²⁷They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger^h at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

²⁹“Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” ³⁰He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

³²David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heartⁱ on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

³³Saul replied,^j “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion^k 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. When it turned on me, I seized^l it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶Your servant has killed both the lion^m and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷The Lord who rescuedⁿ me from the paw of the lion^o and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with^p you.”

³⁸Then Saul dressed David in his own^q tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. ⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

⁴¹Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer^r in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴²He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome,^s and he despised^t him. ⁴³He said to David, “Am I a dog,^u that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴“Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds^v and the wild animals!^w”

⁴⁵David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,^x but I come against you in the name^y of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.^{z 46}This day the Lord will deliver^a you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses^b of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world^c will know that there is a God in Israel.^{d 47}All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword^e or spear that the Lord saves;^f for the battle^g is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

⁴⁸As…