1 Samuel 17:1–58
17 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembledc at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokohd and Azekah.e 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elahf and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
4 A 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 shekelsb; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelinh was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod,i and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.c His shield bearerj went ahead of him.
8 Goliath 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? Choosek a man and have him come down to me. 9 If 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.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defyl the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.m” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathiten named Jesse,o who was from Bethlehemp in Judah. Jesse had eightq sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. 13 Jesse’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, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tendu his father’s sheepv at Bethlehem.
16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
17 Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephahd w of roasted grainx and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothersy are and bring back some assurancee from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
20 Early 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. 21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies,z ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usuala defiance, and David heard it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
25 Now 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 daughterb in marriage and will exempt his family from taxesc in Israel.”
26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgraced from Israel? Who is this uncircumcisede Philistine that he should defyf the armies of the livingg God?”
27 They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with angerh 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?” 30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose hearti on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
33 Saul 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.”
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lionk or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seizedl it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lionm and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescuedn me from the paw of the liono and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be withp …
1 Samuel 18:1–30
18 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathanp became one in spirit with David, and he lovedq him as himself.r 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3 And Jonathan made a covenants with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robet he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.u
5 Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successfulv that Saul gave him a high rank in the army.w This pleased all the troops, and Saul’s officers as well.
6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing,x with joyful songs and with timbrelsy and lyres. 7 As they danced, they sang:z
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tensa of thousands.”
8 Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?b” 9 And from that time on Saul kept a closec eye on David.
10 The next day an evila spiritd from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre,e as he usuallyf did. Saul had a spearg in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself,h “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eludedi him twice.j
12 Saul was afraidk of David, because the Lordl was withm David but had departed fromn Saul. 13 So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David ledo the troops in their campaigns.p 14 In everything he did he had great success,q because the Lord was withr him. 15 When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.s
17 Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughtert Merab. I will give her to you in marriage;u only serve me bravely and fight the battlesv of the Lord.” For Saul said to himself,w “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”
18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I,x and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?y” 19 Sob when the time came for Merab,z Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.a
20 Now Saul’s daughter Michalb was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased.c 21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snared to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”
22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king likes you, and his attendants all love you; now become his son-in-law.’ ”
23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law?e I’m only a poor man and little known.”
24 When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, 25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other pricef for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revengeg on his enemies.’ ” Saul’s planh was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, 27 David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michali in marriage.
28 When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michalj loved David, 29 Saul became still more afraidk of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.
30 The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more successl than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.