1 Samuel 16–17

¹And Jehovah saith unto Samuel, ‘Till when art thou mourning for Saul, and I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and go, I send thee unto Jesse the Beth-Lehemite, for I have seen among his sons for Myself a king. ²And Samuel saith, ‘How do I go? when Saul hath heard, then he hath slain me.’ And Jehovah saith, ‘A heifer of the herd thou dost take in thy hand, and hast said, To sacrifice to Jehovah I have come; ³and thou hast called for Jesse in the sacrifice, and I cause thee to know that which thou dost do, and thou hast anointed to Me him of whom I speak unto thee.’ ⁴And Samuel doth that which Jehovah hath spoken, and cometh in to Beth-Lehem, and the elders of the city tremble to meet him, and one saith, ‘Is thy coming peace?’ ⁵and he saith, ‘Peace; to sacrifice to Jehovah I have come, sanctify yourselves, and ye have come in with me to the sacrifice;’ and he sanctifieth Jesse and his sons, and calleth them to the sacrifice.

⁶And it cometh to pass, in their coming in, that he seeth Eliab, and saith, ‘Surely, before Jehovah is His anointed.’ ⁷And Jehovah saith unto Samuel, ‘Look not unto his appearance, and unto the height of his stature, for I have rejected him; for it is not as man seeth—for man looketh at the eyes, and Jehovah looketh at the heart.’ ⁸And Jesse calleth unto Abinadab, and causeth him to pass by before Samuel; and he saith, ‘Also on this Jehovah hath not fixed.’ ⁹And Jesse causeth Shammah to pass by, and he saith, ‘Also on this Jehovah hath not fixed.’ ¹⁰And Jesse causeth seven of his sons to pass by before Samuel, and Samuel saith to Jesse, ‘Jehovah hath not fixed on these.’ ¹¹And Samuel saith unto Jesse, ‘Are the young men finished?’ and he saith, ‘Yet hath been left the youngest; and lo, he delighteth himself among the flock;’ and Samuel saith unto Jesse, ‘Send and take him, for we do not turn round till his coming in hither.’ ¹²And he sendeth, and bringeth him in, and he is ruddy, with beauty of eyes, and of good appearance; and Jehovah saith, ‘Rise, anoint him, for this is he.’ ¹³And Samuel taketh the horn of oil, and anointeth him in the midst of his brethren, and prosper over David doth the Spirit of Jehovah from that day and onwards; and Samuel riseth and goeth to Ramath.

¹⁴And the Spirit of Jehovah turned aside from Saul, and a spirit of sadness from Jehovah terrified him; ¹⁵and the servants of Saul say unto him, ‘Lo, we pray thee, a spirit of sadness from God is terrifying thee; ¹⁶let our lord command, we pray thee, thy servants before thee, they seek a skilful man, playing on a harp, and it hath come to pass, in the spirit of sadness from God being upon thee, that he hath played with his hand, and it is well with thee.’ ¹⁷And Saul saith unto his servants, ‘Provide, I pray you, for me a man playing well—then ye have brought him in unto me.’ ¹⁸And one of the servants answereth and saith, ‘Lo, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-Lehemite, skilful in playing, and a mighty virtuous man, and a man of battle, and intelligent in word, and a man of form, and Jehovah is with him.’ ¹⁹And Saul sendeth messengers unto Jesse, and saith, ‘Send unto me David thy son, who is with the flock.’ ²⁰And Jesse taketh an ass, with bread, and a bottle of wine, and one kid of the goats, and sendeth by the hand of David his son unto Saul. ²¹And David cometh in unto Saul, and standeth before him, and he loveth him greatly; and he is a bearer of his weapons. ²²And Saul sendeth unto Jesse, saying, ‘Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found grace in mine eyes.’ ²³And it hath come to pass, in the spirit of sadness from God being on Saul, that David hath taken the harp, and played with his hand, and Saul hath refreshment and gladness, and the spirit of sadness hath turned aside from off him.

Chapter 17

¹And the Philistines gather their camps to battle, and are gathered to Shochoh, which is to Judah, and encamp between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-Dammim; ²and Saul and the men of Israel have been gathered, and encamp by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array to meet the Philistines. ³And the Philistines are standing on the mountain on this side, and the Israelites are standing on the mountain on that side, and the valley is between them. ⁴And there goeth out a man of the duellists from the camps of the Philistines, Goliath is his name, from Gath; his height is six cubits and a span, ⁵and a helmet of brass is on his head, and with a scaled coat of mail he is clothed, and the weight of the coat of mail is five thousand shekels of brass, ⁶and a frontlet of brass is on his feet, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders, ⁷and the wood of his spear is like a beam of weavers’, and the flame of his spear is six hundred shekels of iron, and the bearer of the buckler is going before him. ⁸And he standeth and calleth unto the ranks of Israel, and saith to them, ‘Why are ye come out to set in array the battle? am not I the Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose for you a man, and let him come down unto me; ⁹if he be able to fight with me, and have smitten me, then we have been to you for servants; and if I am able for him, and have smitten him, then ye have been to us for servants, and have served us.’ ¹⁰And the Philistine saith, ‘I have reproached the ranks of Israel this day; give to me a man, and we fight together.’ ¹¹And Saul heareth—and all Israel—these words of the Philistine, and they are broken down and greatly afraid.

¹²And David is son of this Ephrathite of Beth-Lehem-Judah, whose name is Jesse, and he hath eight sons, and the man in the days of Saul hath become aged among men; ¹³and the three eldest sons of Jesse go, they have gone after Saul to battle; and the name of his three sons who have gone into battle are Eliab the first-born, and his second Abinadab, and the third Shammah. ¹⁴And David is the youngest, and the three eldest have gone after Saul, ¹⁵and David is going and returning from Saul, to feed the flock of his father at Beth-Lehem. ¹⁶And the Philistine draweth nigh, morning and evening, and stationeth himself forty days. ¹⁷And Jesse saith to David his son, ‘Take, I pray thee, to thy brethren, an ephah of this roasted corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; ¹⁸and these ten cuttings of the cheese thou dost take in to the head of the thousand, and thy brethren thou dost inspect for welfare, and their pledge dost receive.’ ¹⁹And Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. ²⁰And David riseth early in the morning, and leaveth the flock to a keeper, and lifteth up, and goeth, as Jesse commanded him, and he cometh in to the path, and to the force which is going out unto the rank, and they have shouted for battle; ²¹and Israel and the Philistines set in array rank to meet rank. ²²And David letteth down the goods from off him on the hand of a keeper of the goods, and runneth into the rank, and cometh and asketh of his brethren of welfare. ²³And he is speaking with them, and lo, a man of the duellists is coming up, Goliath the Philistine is his name, of Gath, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and he speaketh according to those words, and David heareth; ²⁴and all the men of Israel when they see the man flee from his presence, and are greatly afraid. ²⁵And the men of Israel say, ‘Have ye seen this man who is coming up? for, to reproach Israel he is coming up, and it hath been—the man who smiteth him, the king doth enrich him with great riches, and his daughter he doth give to him, and his father’s house doth make free in Israel.’ ²⁶And David speaketh unto the men who are standing by him, saying, ‘What is done to the man who smiteth this Philistine, and hath turned aside reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he hath reproached the ranks of the living God?’ ²⁷And the people speak to him according to this word, saying, ‘Thus it is done to the man who smiteth him.’ ²⁸And Eliab, his eldest brother, heareth when he speaketh unto the men, and the anger of Eliab burneth against David, and he saith, ‘Why is this—thou hast come down! and to whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I have known thy pride, and the evil of thy heart—for, to see the battle thou hast come down.’ ²⁹And David saith, ‘What have I done now? is it not a word?’ ³⁰And he turneth round from him unto another, and saith according to this word, and the people return him word as the first word.

³¹And the words which David hath spoken are heard, and they declare before Saul, and he receiveth him; ³²and David saith unto Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fall because of him, thy servant doth go, and hath fought with this Philistine.’ ³³And Saul saith unto David, ‘Thou art not able to go unto this Philistine, to fight with him, for a youth thou art, and he a man of war from his youth.’ ³⁴And David saith unto Saul, ‘A shepherd hath thy servant been to his father among the sheep, and the lion hath come—and the bear—and hath taken away a sheep out of the drove, ³⁵and I have gone out after him, and smitten him, and delivered out of his mouth, and he riseth against me, and I have taken hold on his beard, and smitten him, and put him to death. ³⁶Both the lion and the bear hath thy servant smitten, and this uncircumcised Philistine hath been as one of them, for he hath reproached the ranks of the living God.’ ³⁷And David saith, ‘Jehovah, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He doth deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’ And Saul saith unto David, ‘Go, and Jehovah is with thee.’ ³⁸And Saul clotheth David with his long robe, and hath put a helmet of brass on his head, and doth clothe him with a coat of mail. ³⁹And David girded his sword above his long robe, and beginneth to go, for he hath not tried it; and David saith unto Saul, ‘I am not able to go with these, for I had not tried;’ and David turneth them aside from off him.

⁴⁰And he taketh his…