1The Philistines gathered their armies for battle at Socoh, a town in Judah. They set up camp between Socoh and Azekah, in a place called Ephes Dammim.
2Saul and the men of Israel also gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah, lining up their forces for battle against the Philistines.
3The Philistines stood on one mountain slope, and Israel stood on the opposite mountain slope, with a valley between them.
4Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall.
5He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor made of bronze, which weighed about 125 pounds.
6He also had bronze shin guards and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders.
7The shaft of his spear was as thick as a weaver's beam, and its iron point weighed about 15 pounds. A shield-bearer walked in front of him.
8Goliath stood and shouted to the Israelite armies, “Why have you come out to arrange your battle lines? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.
9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants. But if I defeat him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.”
10The Philistine then said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man so we can fight each other!”
11When Saul and all the Israelites heard the Philistine’s words, they were terrified and greatly afraid.
12David was the son of Jesse, an old Ephrathite man from Bethlehem in Judah, who had eight sons. Jesse was elderly during Saul's reign.
13Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the battle. Their names were Eliab (the firstborn), Abinadab (the second), and Shammah (the third).
14David was the youngest, while the three oldest followed Saul.
15David regularly went back and forth from Saul's service to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16The Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand for forty days.
17One day, Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to the camp to your brothers.
18Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. Check on your brothers to see how they are doing and bring back news from them.”
19Saul, David's brothers, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.
20David got up early in the morning, left the sheep with someone to watch them, and took what Jesse had told him to. He arrived at the camp just as the army was yelling and marching out to fight.
21The armies of Israel and the Philistines lined up against each other for battle.
22David left his supplies with the supply keeper, ran to the battle line, and greeted his brothers.
23As he was talking with them, the Philistine champion, named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks and shouted the same insults. David heard them.
24When the men of Israel saw Goliath, they all ran away from him, terrified.
25The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man? He has come out to insult Israel! The king has promised great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and free his father’s family from taxes in Israel.”
26David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he dares to insult the armies of the living God?”
27The people answered him, “That’s what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28When David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men, he became angry with David and asked, “Why have you come down here? Who are you leaving those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your pride and your evil intentions. You only came down to watch the battle.”
29David replied, “What have I done now? Can’t I even ask a question?”
30He turned away from Eliab and asked someone else the same thing, and the people gave him the same answer.
31When people heard what David had said, they reported it to Saul, who then sent for David.
32David told Saul, “No one should lose heart because of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him.”
33Saul said to David, “You are not able to go fight this Philistine. You are only a young man, and he has been a warrior since his youth.”
34David replied to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,
35I went after it, attacked it, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it attacked me, I grabbed it by the fur under its chin, struck it, and killed it.
36Your servant has killed both a lion and a bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has insulted the armies of the living God.”
37David added, “Yahweh, who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will also rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may Yahweh be with you.”
38Then Saul dressed David in his own armor. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and dressed him in a coat of mail.
39David put on Saul’s sword over the armor and tried to walk, but he wasn’t used to it. David said to Saul, “I can’t go in these, because I’m not used to them.” So David took them off.
40He took his staff, chose five smooth stones from the stream, and put them in his shepherd's bag. With his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
41The Philistine started walking closer to David. The man carrying the shield walked in front of him.
42When the Philistine looked around and saw David, he looked down on him because David was only a young man, healthy and good-looking.
43The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44The Philistine told David, “Come here, and I will give your body to the birds and wild animals.”
45Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin. But I come to you in the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel's armies, whom you have insulted."
46Today, Yahweh will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and wild animals, so that everyone on earth will know that there is a God in Israel.
47And all these people gathered here will know that Yahweh saves people without swords or spears, because the battle belongs to Yahweh, and he will hand you over to us."
48When the Philistine got up, walked, and came closer to meet David, David quickly ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
49David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it. He struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
50So David won against the Philistine with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine and killed him, even though David had no sword in his hand.
51Then David ran, stood over the Philistine, took his sword, pulled it from its sheath, and killed him, cutting off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they ran away.
52The men of Israel and Judah stood up, shouted, and chased the Philistines as far as Gai and the gates of Ekron. Many wounded Philistines fell dead along the road to Shaaraim, all the way to Gath and Ekron.
53The Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines and looted their camp.
54David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put the Philistine's armor in his own tent.
55When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is that young man?" Abner replied, "As surely as you live, O king, I don't know."
56The king said, "Find out whose son the young man is!"
57When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the Philistine's head still in David's hand.
58Saul asked him, "Whose son are you, young man?" David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse from Bethlehem."