# 1 Samuel 17

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-samuel/17

Translated from Hebrew and Greek with AI, then checked for clarity and fidelity.

1. The Philistines gathered their armies for battle and assembled at Socoh in Judah, encamping between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.
2. Saul and the men of Israel assembled, encamped in the Elah Valley, and drew up for battle against the Philistines.
3. The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them.
4. A champion went out from the Philistine camp, Goliath of Gath, six cubits and a span in height.
5. A bronze helmet covered his head, and he wore scale mail weighing five thousand shekels of bronze.
6. He had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
7. The wooden shaft of his spear resembled a weaver's beam, its spearhead weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and his shield-bearer walked before him.
8. He stood and called to Israel's ranks and said to them, "Why do you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you Saul's servants? Select a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me."
9. If he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I can overcome him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.
10. The Philistine said, "I have reproached Israel's ranks today. Give me a man, and we will fight together."
11. Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, and they were dismayed and feared greatly.
12. David was the son of that Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse, who had eight sons and was an old man, well advanced among men, in the days of Saul.
13. Jesse's three oldest sons went after Saul to the battle, and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, Abinadab his second, and Shammah the third.
14. David himself was the youngest, and the three eldest went after Saul.
15. David went to and from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
16. The Philistine came close morning and evening, and took his stand for forty days.
17. Jesse said to his son David, “Take now an ephah of this parched grain for your brothers, these ten loaves, and run to the camp to your brothers.”
18. And take these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, see to your brothers' welfare, and take their pledge.
19. Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.
20. David rose early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, took up his journey, and went as Jesse had commanded him, arriving at the baggage train just as the army advanced to the battle line and raised the battle cry.
21. Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines to meet each other.
22. David left his baggage in the charge of the baggage keeper, ran to the battle line, came and asked his brothers how they were.
23. While he was speaking with them, there came the champion, Goliath the Philistine from Gath by name, up out of the Philistine army's ranks, and he spoke according to these words; David heard.
24. When they saw the man, all the men of Israel fled before him and were greatly afraid.
25. The men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. Whoever strikes him down, the king will enrich him with great riches, give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel."
26. David said to the men standing with him, "What will be done for the man who strikes this Philistine and removes the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?"
27. The people answered him like this, saying, "So it shall be done to the man who kills him."
28. Eliab his eldest brother heard him speaking to the men, and Eliab's anger burned against David, and he said, "Why have you come down here? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle."
29. David said, "What have I done now? Is it not a matter?"
30. He turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again like the first time.
31. When they heard the words that David spoke, they reported them before Saul, and he sent for him.
32. David said to Saul, “Let no man lose heart because of him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine.”
33. Saul said to David, "You cannot go against this Philistine to fight him, because you are a youth, and he is a warrior from his youth."
34. David said to Saul, "Your servant was pasturing his father's sheep when a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock."
35. I went after it and struck it, rescuing it from its mouth. When it rose against me, I seized it by its beard, struck it, and killed it.
36. Your servant struck both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the armies of the living God.
37. David said, “Yahweh who rescued me from the lion's hand and from the bear's hand—he will rescue me from this Philistine's hand.” Saul said to David, “Go, and Yahweh will be with you.”
38. Saul clothed David with his armor, put a bronze helmet on his head, and clothed him with a coat of mail.
39. David fastened his sword over his armor and tried to go, for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." David removed them from himself.
40. He took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the brook for himself, put them in the shepherd's bag he had—his scrip—with his sling in his hand, and approached the Philistine.
41. The Philistine went on, approaching and drawing near to David, and the man carrying the shield went ahead of him.
42. The Philistine looked around and saw David, and he scorned him because he was a youth, ruddy with a handsome appearance.
43. The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" The Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44. The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the field."
45. David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword, spear, and shield, but I come against you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel's armies, whom you have defied."
46. Today Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and sever your head from you, and give the corpses of the Philistine army this day to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, so all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47. All this assembly will know that Yahweh does not save by sword and spear, for the battle belongs to Yahweh, and he will give you into our hand.
48. When the Philistine rose up and advanced to confront David, David hurried and ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
49. David put his hand into the bag, took a stone from it, slung it, and struck the Philistine in the forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground.
50. David overpowered the Philistine with a sling and a stone, struck the Philistine, and killed him, though there was no sword in David's hand.
51. David ran to the Philistine and stood over him, seized his sword, drew it from its scabbard, put him to death, and severed his head with it. The Philistines saw that their champion lay dead and fled.
52. The men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until reaching the valley and the gates of Ekron, while slain Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, to Gath, and to Ekron.
53. The sons of Israel returned from pursuing the Philistines and plundered their camps.
54. David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put his armor in his tent.
55. When Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the army's commander, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" Abner replied, "As your soul lives, O king, if I know."
56. The king said, "You ask whose son this young man is."
57. When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine's head in his hand.
58. Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" David said, "Son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

## Nearby chapters

[1 Samuel 16](https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-samuel/16.md)
[1 Samuel 18](https://www.lumin.faith/read/1-samuel/18.md)

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