1 Samuel 17:1-22 ▼

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.