Goliath’s Challenge
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. Jos 15:351Ch 11:131Sa 13:52Ch 28:18Jdg 3:3Jos 10:10-111Sa 14:461Sa 14:52 Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines. 1Sa 21:91Sa 17:19
The Philistines stood on one hill and the Israelites stood on another, with the valley between them.
Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height, 1 Jos 11:221Ch 20:4-81Sa 17:232Sa 21:16-221Ch 11:231Sa 21:9-101Sa 27:4Deu 3:11 and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels, 2 and he had armor of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 1Sa 17:451Ki 10:162Ch 9:15 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. 3 In addition, his shield bearer went before him. 2Sa 21:191Ch 11:231Sa 17:411Ch 20:5
And Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and array yourselves for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. 1Sa 8:171Ch 21:31Sa 17:262Sa 11:11 If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and labor for us.” 1Sa 11:1
Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man to fight!” 1Sa 17:25-261Sa 17:361Sa 17:452Sa 21:21Neh 2:19Num 23:7-8Job 40:9-12Psa 9:4-5
On hearing the words of the Philistine, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and greatly afraid. Deu 31:8Jos 1:9Isa 51:12-13Isa 57:11Pro 28:1Psa 27:1
David Accepts the Challenge
Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons in the days of Saul. And Jesse was old and well along in years. 4 1Sa 16:10-11Gen 35:191Sa 16:181Ch 2:13-161Sa 17:58Rut 4:221Sa 16:1Luk 3:31-32 The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle: The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. 1Ch 2:131Sa 16:6-91Sa 17:282Sa 13:32Sa 13:322Sa 21:21 And David was the youngest. 1Sa 16:11Gen 25:23
The three oldest had followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem. 1Sa 16:111Sa 16:19-23
For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand. Luk 4:2Mat 4:2
One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain 5and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 1Sa 25:182Sa 17:28Luk 11:13Mat 7:11Rut 2:14 Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them. 6 Gen 37:141Sa 16:201Th 3:5-62Sa 17:29Act 15:36Job 10:10 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry. 1Sa 26:5Luk 19:431Sa 17:281Sa 26:7Eph 6:1-2 And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.
Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing. Gen 37:14Isa 10:28Jdg 18:15Luk 10:5-6Mat 10:12-13 And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard. 1Sa 17:8-10
When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear. 1Sa 13:6-71Sa 17:11Deu 32:30Isa 30:17Isa 7:2Lev 26:36Num 13:33
Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see this man who keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.” Jos 15:16Rev 2:7Rev 3:121Sa 18:17-27Ezr 7:24Mat 17:26Rev 2:17Rev 3:21
David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 1Sa 11:2Deu 5:261Sa 14:61Sa 17:101Sa 17:362Ki 19:4Dan 9:16Jer 10:10
The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.” 1Sa 17:25
Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!” Mat 10:36Gen 37:11Gen 37:4Gen 37:8Pro 18:19Mrk 3:211Sa 16:131Sa 16:7
“What have I done now?” said David. “Was it not just a question?” 1Pe 3:91Co 2:15Act 11:2-4Pro 15:1 Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered. 1Sa 17:26-27
Now David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, who called for him. Pro 22:29
And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!” 1Sa 16:18Deu 20:1-3Psa 3:6Isa 35:4Num 14:9Psa 27:1-31Sa 14:6Heb 12:12
But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” Num 13:31Deu 9:2Rev 13:41Sa 17:421Sa 17:56Psa 11:1
David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. Amo 3:122Ti 4:17-18Dan 6:22Jdg 14:5-6Psa 91:13Act 28:4-62Sa 23:20 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 1Sa 17:101Sa 17:26Act 12:1-2Act 12:22-23Act 5:38-39Ezk 32:19Ezk 32:27-32Isa 10:15
David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 2Ti 4:17-18Psa 138:7-82Co 1:9-10Psa 18:16-17Psa 63:71Ch 22:111Sa 20:131Sa 7:12
“Go,” said Saul, “and may the LORD be with you.”
David Slays Goliath
Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor. David strapped his sword over the tunic and tried to walk, but he was not accustomed to them. 2Co 10:4-5Hos 1:7Zec 4:6
“I cannot walk in these,” David said to Saul. “I am not accustomed to them.” So David took them off. And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine. 1Co 1:27-29Jdg 15:15-16Jdg 20:16Mat 10:10Jdg 3:31Jdg 7:16-20
Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome. 1Sa 16:121Sa 17:33Psa 123:3-42Co 11:27-29Pro 16:181Ki 20:182Ki 18:23-24Neh 4:2-4 “Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 1Sa 24:142Sa 3:82Sa 9:82Ki 8:132Sa 16:9Gen 27:29Pro 26:2Num 22:6 “Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” 1Ki 20:10-11Ezk 28:9-10Pro 18:121Sa 17:46Ecc 9:11-12Ezk 28:2Ezk 39:17-20Jer 9:23
But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 2Co 10:42Ch 32:82Co 3:5Php 4:13Psa 18:2Psa 124:82Sa 22:33-351Sa 17:36 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. Isa 52:10Jos 4:242Ki 19:191Ki 8:43Deu 28:26Dan 6:26-27Dan 2:47Exo 9:16 And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.” Psa 44:6-7Zec 4:6Hos 1:7Pro 21:30-311Sa 14:6Rom 8:312Ch 14:112Ch 20:15-17
As the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Pro 28:1Psa 27:1 Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 1Co 1:27-281Ki 22:342Ki 9:24
Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. Jdg 15:151Sa 17:391Sa 21:91Sa 23:211Sa 13:22Jdg 3:31 David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword and pulled it from its sheath and killed him; and he cut off his head with the sword. 1Sa 21:9Heb 11:342Sa 23:21Est 7:10Heb 2:14Psa 7:15-16
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath 7and to the gates of Ekron. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. Jos 15:111Sa 14:21-222Sa 23:10Jdg 7:23Jos 15:33-36Jos 15:45-46
When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 2Ki 7:7-16Jer 30:16Jer 4:20 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent. Exo 16:331Sa 21:9Jos 4:7-8
As Saul had watched David going out to confront the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” 1Sa 16:21-221Sa 17:58
“As surely as you live, O king,” Abner replied, “I do not know.”
“Find out whose son this young man is!” said the king.
So when David returned from killing the Philistine, still holding his head in his hand, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. 1Sa 17:54
“Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. 1Sa 17:121Sa 16:18-19
“I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.