- 1 Samuel
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- 17
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17
1 And 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; 2 and Saul and the men of Israel have been gathered, and encamp by the Valley of Elah, and set in array [for] battle to meet the Philistines. 3 And the Philistines are standing on the mountain on this [side], and Israel is standing on the mountain on that [side], and the valley [is] between them. 4 And a man goes out, the champion from the camps of the Philistines, his name [is] Goliath, from Gath; his height [is] six cubits and a span [[or four cubits and a span]], 5 and a helmet of bronze [is] on his head, and he is clothed [with] a scaled coat of mail, and the weight of the coat of mail [is] five thousand shekels of bronze, 6 and a frontlet of bronze [is] on his feet, and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders, 7 and the wood of his spear [is] like a weavers’ beam, and the flame of his spear [is] six hundred shekels of iron, and the bearer of the buckler is going before him. 8 And he stands and calls to the ranks of Israel, and says to them, “Why do you come out to set in array for battle? [Am] I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me; 9 if he is able to fight with me, and has struck me, then we have been for servants to you; and if I prevail against him, and have struck him, then you have been for servants to us, and have served us.” 10 And the Philistine says, “I have reproached the ranks of Israel this day; give a man to me and we fight together!” 11 And Saul hears—and all Israel—these words of the Philistine, and they are broken down and greatly afraid. 12 And David [is] son of this Ephraimite of Beth-Lehem-Judah, whose name [is] Jesse, and he has eight sons, and the man has become aged among men in the days of Saul; 13 and 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 firstborn, and his second Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 And David is the youngest, and the three eldest have gone after Saul, 15 and David is going and returning from Saul, to feed the flock of his father at Beth-Lehem. 16 And the Philistine draws near, morning and evening, and stations himself [for] forty days. 17 And Jesse says to his son David, “Now take an ephah of this roasted [grain] and these ten loaves for your brothers, and run to the camp to your brothers; 18 and take these ten cuttings of the cheese to the head of the one thousand, and inspect your brothers for welfare, and receive their pledge.” 19 And Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, [are] in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 And David rises early in the morning, and leaves the flock to a keeper, and lifts up, and goes, as Jesse commanded him, and he comes to the path, and to the force which is going out to the rank, and they have shouted for battle; 21 and Israel and the Philistines set in array rank to meet rank. 22 And David lets down the goods from off him on the hand of a keeper of the goods, and runs into the rank, and comes and asks of his brothers of [their] welfare. 23 And he is speaking with them, and behold, a man, the champion, is coming up, his name [is] Goliath the Philistine, from Gath, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and he speaks according to those words, and David hears; 24 and all the men of Israel, when they see the man, flee from his presence, and are greatly afraid. 25 And the men of Israel say, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? For he is coming up to reproach Israel, and it has been—the man who strikes him, the king enriches him with great riches, and he gives his daughter to him, and makes his father’s house free in Israel.” 26 And David speaks to the men who are standing by him, saying, “What is done to the man who strikes this Philistine, and has turned aside reproach from Israel? For who [is] this uncircumcised Philistine that he has reproached the ranks of the living God?” 27 And the people speak to him according to this word, saying, “Thus it is done to the man who strikes him.” 28 And Eliab, his eldest brother, hears when he speaks to the men, and the anger of Eliab burns against David, and he says, “Why [is] this—[that] you have come down? And to whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I have known your pride, and the evil of your heart—for you have come down to see the battle.” 29 And David says, “What have I done now? Is it not a word?” 30 And he turns around from him to another, and says according to this word, and the people return him word as the first word. 31 And the words which David has spoken are heard, and they declare [them] before Saul, and he receives him; 32 and David says to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fall because of him, your servant goes, and has fought with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul says to David, “You are not able to go to this Philistine, to fight with him, for you [are] a youth, and he [has been] a man of war from his youth.” 34 And David says to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd among the sheep for his father, and the lion has come—and the bear—and has taken away a sheep out of the drove, 35 and I have gone out after him, and struck him, and delivered [it] out of his mouth, and he rises against me, and I have taken hold on his beard, and struck him, and put him to death. 36 Your servant has struck both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine has been as one of them, for he has reproached the ranks of the living God.” 37 And David says, “YHWH, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He delivers me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul says to David, “Go, and YHWH is with you.” 38 And Saul clothes David with his long robe, and has put a helmet of bronze on his head, and clothes him with a coat of mail. 39 And David girded his sword above his long robe, and begins to go, for he has not tried [it]; and David says to Saul, “I am not able to go with these, for I had not tried”; and David turns them aside from off him. 40 And he takes his staff in his hand, and chooses five smooth stones for himself from the brook, and puts them in the shepherds’ vessel that he has, even in the leather pouch, and his sling [is] in his hand, and he draws near to the Philistine. 41 And the Philistine goes on, going and drawing near to David, and the man carrying the buckler [is] before him, 42 and the Philistine looks attentively, and sees David, and despises him, for he was a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. 43 And the Philistine says to David, “Am I a dog that you are coming to me with sticks?” And the Philistine reviles David by his gods, 44 and the Philistine says to David, “Come to me, and I give your flesh to the bird of the heavens, and to the beast of the field.” 45 And David says to the Philistine, “You are coming to me with sword, and with spear, and with buckler, and I am coming to you in the Name of YHWH of Hosts, God of the ranks of Israel, which you have reproached! 46 This day YHWH shuts you up into my hand—and I have struck you, and turned aside your head from off you, and given the carcass of the camp of the Philistines this day to the bird of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth, and all the earth knows that God is for Israel! 47 And all this assembly knows that YHWH does not save by sword and by spear, for the battle [is] YHWH’s, and He has given you into our hand.” 48 And it has come to pass, that the Philistine has risen, and goes, and draws near to meet David, and David hurries and runs to the rank to meet the Philistine, 49 and David puts forth his hand into the vessel, and takes a stone from there, and slings, and strikes the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sinks into his forehead, and he falls on his face to the earth. 50 And David is stronger than the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and strikes the Philistine, and puts him to death, and there is no sword in the hand of David, 51 and David runs and stands over the Philistine, and takes his sword, and draws it out of its sheath, and puts him to death, and cuts off his head with it; and the Philistines see that their hero [is] dead, and flee. 52 And the men of Israel rise—also Judah—and shout, and pursue the Philistines until you enter the valley, and to the gates of Ekron, and the wounded of the Philistines fall in the way of Shaaraim, even to Gath, and to Ekron, 53 and the sons of Israel return from burning after the Philistines, and spoil their camps. 54 And David takes the head of the Philistine, and brings it to Jerusalem, and he has put his weapons in his own tent. 55 And when Saul sees David going out to meet the Philistine, he has said to Abner, head of the host, “Whose son [is] this—the youth, Abner?” And Abner says, “Your soul lives, O king, I have not known.” 56 And the king says, “Ask whose son this [is]—the young man.” 57 And when David turns back from striking the Philistine, then Abner takes him and brings him in before Saul, and the head of the Philistine [is] in his hand; 58 and Saul says to him, “Whose son [are] you, O youth?” And David says, “Son of your servant Jesse, the Beth-Lehemite.”

- 1 Samuel
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