Samuel I_Chapter 17

The Philistines gathered their armies to fight. Gather in Sokoh, which belongs to Judah, and camp in Ephraim between Sokoh and Azekah.

Saul and the Israelites also gathered and camped in the valley of Elah, setting up their armies to fight against the Philistines.

The Philistines stood on this mountain, while the Israelites stood on that mountain with a valley in the middle.

A warrior named Goliath came out of the camp of the Philistines and was from Gath, with a height of six cubits and one tiger’s mouth.

Wearing a bronze helmet and armor, the armor weighs 5000 shekels.

There are copper knee pads on the legs and copper halberds on the shoulders.

The barrel of the gun is as thick as a woven shaft, and the iron gun head weighs 600 shekels. There is a person with a shield walking in front of him.

Goliath stood up against the army of Israel and called out, “What are you going out to set up your army for?”? Am I not a Philistine? Aren’t you Saul’s servants? You can choose one person from among you to come down to me.

If he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. If I defeat him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.

The Philistine also said, Today I have cursed against the army of Israel. You call someone out and fight against me.

When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistines, they were terrified and extremely afraid.

David was the son of Jesse, an Ephraimite from Judah and Bethlehem. Jesse has eight sons. When Saul was there, Jesse was already in old age.

Jesse’s three eldest sons followed Saul on his expedition. The three sons who went on the expedition were named Eliab the first, Abinadab the second, and Shamah the third.

David is the youngest. The three eldest sons followed Saul.

David sometimes left Saul and returned to Bethlehem to feed his father’s sheep.

The Philistine came out and stood for forty days, morning and evening.

One day, Jesse said to his son David, “Take one ephah of roasted grain and ten loaves of bread, and quickly bring them to the camp and give them to your brothers.”.

Take these ten more milk cakes and give them to their captain, and ask your brothers for a letter.

Saul, David’s three brothers, and all Israel went to war with the Philistines in the valley of Elah.

David got up in the morning and entrusted the sheep to a caretaker. As his father had instructed, he went with food. Arriving at the logistics camp, the soldiers had just left the battlefield, shouting for battle.

The Israelites and the Philistines lined up their ranks, facing each other.

David left the food he brought under the watchman’s command and ran to the battlefield to greet his brothers.

When he spoke to them, the warrior was Goliath the Philistine of Gath, who came out of the Philistine army and spoke the same words as before. David heard it all.

When all Israel saw the man, they fled and were extremely afraid.

The Israelites said to each other, Have you seen the person who came up here? He came up to curse at the Israelites. If anyone is able to kill him, the king will reward him with great wealth, give him his daughter as his wife, and exempt his father’s house from receiving food as a servant among the Israelites.

David asked the people standing beside him, “What will be done to someone who has killed this Philistine and taken away the shame of Israel?”? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Dare to curse at the army of the Eternal God?

The people answered him according to their previous words, saying, If anyone can kill this Philistine, they will do this to him.

When David’s elder brother Eliab heard what David had said to them, he became angry with him and said, “What have you come down to do?”? Who did you entrust to those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the malice in your heart. You came down specifically to watch the war.

David said, What have I done? Am I here for no reason?

David left him and turned to someone else, asking as he had said before. The people still answered him according to their previous words.

Someone heard what David was saying and told Saul. So Saul sent someone to call him.

David said to Saul, “No one should be afraid because of that Philistine.”. Your servant is going to fight against the Philistine.

Saul said to David, “You cannot go and fight against the Philistine.”. Because you are too young, he has been a warrior since childhood.

David said to Saul, “Your servant is tending his father’s sheep. Sometimes a lion comes, sometimes a bear comes. Take a lamb from the flock.”.

I chased it, struck it, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. It got up and wanted to harm me, so I grabbed its beard and killed it.

Your servant has killed a lion and a bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will curse the army of the living God like a lion and a bear.

David also said, The Lord has saved me from the claws of lions and bears, and he will also save me from the hands of this Philistine. Saul said to David, “You can go.”. The Lord will be with you.

So Saul put on his armor for David, put on a bronze helmet, and put on armor for him.

David crossed his sword over his battle suit, trying to see if he could walk or not. Because I have never been accustomed to wearing them, I said to Saul, ‘I cannot leave wearing these because I have never been accustomed to them.’. So he picked it off.

He held a staff in his hand and selected five smooth stones from the stream, placing them in a bag, which was the bag carried by the shepherd. Holding the string of a throwing stone in his hand, he went to greet the Philistine.

The Philistines also gradually met David, with the shield bearer walking ahead.

The Philistines looked at David and despised him. Because he is young, with a rosy complexion and a handsome appearance.

The Philistine said to David, “Bring a staff to me, am I a dog?”? The Philistines cursed David by their own gods.

The Philistines said to David again, Come. I will give your meat to the birds in the air and the beasts in the fields to eat.

David said to the Philistines, “You have come to attack me with swords, spears, and bronze spears.”. I have come to attack you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God who led the army of Israel, whom you have cursed.

Today the Lord will deliver you into my hand. I will kill you, cut off your head, and give the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to eat, so that all the world will know that there is God in Israel.

And let this crowd know that the Lord brings victory, not with the sword or spear, for the victory and defeat of war are all in the Lord. He will deliver you into our hands.

The Philistines stood up and met David. David quickly met the Philistines and ran towards the battlefield.

David took out a stone from his bag with his hand, threw it with a string, and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone entered his forehead, and he fell to the ground with his face.

In this way, David used a sling to throw stones and defeated the Philistine, killing him. David had no knife in his hand.

David ran and stood beside the Philistine, pulling his sword out of its sheath, killing him, and cutting off his head. When the Philistines saw the death of their warrior who was fighting, they all fled.

The Israelites and Judah stood up and shouted, chasing after the Philistines until they reached the gates of Gath and Ekron. The Philistines who were killed fell on the road to Salaim, all the way to Gath and Ekron.

When the Israelites returned from chasing after the Philistines, they took their camp.

David brought the head of the Philistine to Jerusalem, but he put his military uniform in his tent.

When Saul saw David attacking the Philistines, he asked the commander of the army Abner, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”. Abner said, I swear before the king, I do not know.

Wang said, you can ask whose son that young man is.

David returned from killing the Philistine, and Abner brought him to Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

Saul asked him, “Young man, whose son are you?”. David said, I am the son of Jesse, your servant from Bethlehem.