David and Goliath
1Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
4A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.17:4 That is, about 9 feet 9 inches or about 3 meters 5He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels17:5 That is, about 125 pounds or about 58 kilograms; 6on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.17:7 That is, about 15 pounds or about 6.9 kilograms His shield bearer went ahead of him.
8Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
12Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. 13Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. 14David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
17Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah17:17 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance17:18 Or some token; or some pledge of spoils from them. 19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
20Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
25Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his 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 should defy the armies of the living God?”
27They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
29“Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” 30He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
32David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
33Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
34But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
38Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.
“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44“Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
45David 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 Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47All those gathered 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.”
48As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
50So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath17:52 Some Septuagint manuscripts; Hebrew of a valley and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.
54David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.
55As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”
Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
56The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”
57As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.
58“Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.
David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
大衛迎戰歌利亞
1非利士人在猶大的梭哥招聚軍隊，準備作戰。他們在梭哥和亞西加之間的以弗·大憫紮營。 2掃羅和以色列人也聚集起來在以拉谷安營，擺好陣勢準備迎戰。 3雙方的軍隊各佔一座山對峙，中間隔著山谷。 4非利士營中有個名叫歌利亞的巨人出來討戰。他來自迦特，身高三米， 5頭戴銅盔，身穿重達五十七公斤的鎧甲， 6腿上有銅護膝，肩背銅戟。 7戟柄粗如織布機的軸，鐵戟頭重七公斤。有衛士拿著他的盾牌走在前面。 8他站在那裡挑戰以色列人，高喊：「你們為什麼列陣打仗呢？我是非利士人，你們是掃羅的僕人，你們選一個人下來跟我一比高下。 9如果他打得過我，將我殺了，我們就做你們的奴隸。但如果我戰勝他，把他殺了，你們就要做我們的奴隸，服侍我們。 10我今天向以色列軍隊罵陣，你們找一個人出來跟我一決高下吧！」 11掃羅和所有以色列人聽了非利士人的這些話，都嚇得驚恐不已。
12大衛是以法他人耶西的兒子。掃羅執政期間，耶西已經年紀老邁，住在猶大的伯利恆，有八個兒子。 13他的三個兒子已經跟隨掃羅去打仗了，他們是長子以利押、次子亞比拿達和三子沙瑪。 14大衛年紀最小，他的三個哥哥跟隨掃羅期間， 15他有時去掃羅的軍營，有時回伯利恆為他父親放羊。 16這非利士人早晚都出來罵陣，長達四十天。
17一天，耶西對大衛說：「你帶上十公斤烤麥和十個餅，趕快到軍營中送給你的哥哥們。 18再帶十塊奶餅送給他們的千夫長，看望一下他們，帶個信兒回來。 19他們跟隨掃羅率領的以色列軍在以拉谷跟非利士人打仗。」
20大衛清早起來把羊交給一個牧人看顧，然後照父親的吩咐帶著食物出發了。他來到軍營的時候，大軍正吶喊著出戰。 21以色列人與非利士人擺好陣勢，兩軍對壘。 22大衛把帶來的東西交給負責看守的人保管，自己跑到陣中去問候哥哥們。 23他們正在交談的時候，非利士軍中的迦特人歌利亞出來，像往常一樣向以色列軍罵陣，大衛都聽見了。 24以色列人一看見歌利亞都競相奔逃，極其害怕。 25以色列人彼此議論說：「看那個人！他是來向以色列軍罵陣的。誰要能殺死他，王必有重賞，還會把女兒嫁給他為妻，並免去他父親家在以色列應繳的賦稅。」 26大衛問站在旁邊的人：「如果有人殺了這非利士人，洗掉以色列人的羞辱，他會得到什麼呢？這個未受割禮的非利士人是誰？竟敢向永活上帝的軍隊罵陣！」 27他們就把剛才的話一一告訴大衛。
28大衛的長兄以利押聽見他跟人說話，就憤怒地對他說：「你來這裡做什麼？你把曠野的那幾隻羊交給誰了？我知道你驕傲自大，心懷惡意，你來只是想看打仗。」 29大衛說：「我做錯了什麼？我問一下都不行嗎？」 30他又去問其他人同樣的問題，得到了同樣的答覆。 31有人聽見了大衛的話，就去告訴掃羅，掃羅便派人來召大衛。 32大衛對掃羅說：「大家不要因這個非利士人而喪膽，讓僕人去戰他。」 33掃羅說：「你不能去，你年紀還小，他卻是一個久經沙場的戰士。」 34大衛說：「我一直替父親放羊，有時候獅子或熊會從羊群中叼走羊， 35我會去追打牠，把羊從牠口中救出來。如果牠起來攻擊我，我就揪著牠的鬍子把牠打死。 36我曾打死過獅子和熊。這未受割禮的非利士人竟敢向永活上帝的軍隊罵陣，他的下場也必像獅子和熊一樣。 37耶和華曾經從獅子和熊的利爪下拯救我，祂也必從這非利士人手中拯救我。」掃羅對大衛說：「去吧，願耶和華與你同在。」 38掃羅把自己的戰袍給大衛穿上，又給他戴上自己的頭盔，穿上自己的鎧甲。 39大衛把刀挎在戰袍上，試著走了幾步，卻不習慣這種裝束，就對掃羅說：「我穿著這些無法走路，因為我不習慣。」他便摘下頭盔，卸下鎧甲， 40然後拿著杖，在溪裡撿了五塊光滑的石頭放進牧人用的袋子，拿著投石器向歌利亞走去。
41歌利亞也迎著大衛走來，衛士拿著他的盾牌走在前面。 42歌利亞見大衛是個面色紅潤、相貌英俊的少年，就藐視他。 43他對大衛說：「你拿著棍子來戰我，難道我是一條狗嗎？」他就憑自己的神明咒詛大衛， 44又說：「你過來，我要把你的肉丟給天上的飛禽和地上的走獸。」 45大衛答道：「你是靠刀槍劍戟來攻擊我，我是靠萬軍之耶和華的名，就是你所蔑視的以色列軍隊的上帝來迎戰你。 46今天，耶和華必把你交在我手中，我必殺死你，砍掉你的頭，用非利士軍兵的屍體餵飛禽走獸，使普天下都知道以色列有上帝。 47這裡所有的人都必知道耶和華拯救人不靠刀槍，因為祂掌管戰爭的勝負。祂必把你們交在我們手中。」 48歌利亞迎面走來的時候，大衛就飛快地跑上去應戰， 49他從袋裡拿出一塊石子用投石器猛力拋去，石子擊中歌利亞的額頭，嵌了進去，他迎面栽倒在地。
50大衛就這樣不用刀劍，只用投石器和一塊石子戰勝了那個非利士人，殺死了他。 51大衛跑到那非利士人身邊，從他刀鞘裡拔出刀殺了他，並割下他的頭顱。非利士人看見自己的英雄死了，紛紛逃跑。 52以色列人和猶大人乘勢吶喊，追殺非利士人，直追到迦特和以革倫的城門。通往迦特和以革倫的沙拉音大道上到處是非利士人的屍體。 53以色列軍隊追殺非利士人回來，又擄掠了他們的營地。 54大衛把那非利士人的頭顱帶到耶路撒冷，把那人的兵器存放在自己的帳篷中。
55掃羅看見大衛出去迎戰歌利亞，就問押尼珥元帥：「押尼珥啊，那少年是誰的兒子？」押尼珥答道：「王啊，我向你發誓，我真的不知道。」 56掃羅王說：「你去查查他是誰的兒子。」 57大衛殺了歌利亞回來，押尼珥就把他帶到掃羅那裡，他手上還拿著那非利士人的頭顱。 58掃羅問他：「年輕人，你是誰的兒子？」大衛答道：「我是你僕人伯利恆人耶西的兒子。」
