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.”
大卫迎战歌利亚
1非利士人在犹大的梭哥招聚军队，准备作战。他们在梭哥和亚西加之间的以弗·大悯扎营。 2扫罗和以色列人也聚集起来在以拉谷安营，摆好阵势准备迎战。 3双方的军队各占一座山对峙，中间隔着山谷。 4非利士营中有个名叫歌利亚的巨人出来讨战。他来自迦特，身高三米， 5头戴铜盔，身穿重达五十七公斤的铠甲， 6腿上有铜护膝，肩背铜戟。 7戟柄粗如织布机的轴，铁戟头重七公斤。有卫士拿着他的盾牌走在前面。 8他站在那里挑战以色列人，高喊：“你们为什么列阵打仗呢？我是非利士人，你们是扫罗的仆人，你们选一个人下来跟我一比高下。 9如果他打得过我，将我杀了，我们就做你们的奴隶。但如果我战胜他，把他杀了，你们就要做我们的奴隶，服侍我们。 10我今天向以色列军队骂阵，你们找一个人出来跟我一决高下吧！” 11扫罗和所有以色列人听了非利士人的这些话，都吓得惊恐不已。
12大卫是以法他人耶西的儿子。扫罗执政期间，耶西已经年纪老迈，住在犹大的伯利恒，有八个儿子。 13他的三个儿子已经跟随扫罗去打仗了，他们是长子以利押、次子亚比拿达和三子沙玛。 14大卫年纪最小，他的三个哥哥跟随扫罗期间， 15他有时去扫罗的军营，有时回伯利恒为他父亲放羊。 16这非利士人早晚都出来骂阵，长达四十天。
17一天，耶西对大卫说：“你带上十公斤烤麦和十个饼，赶快到军营中送给你的哥哥们。 18再带十块奶饼送给他们的千夫长，看望一下他们，带个信儿回来。 19他们跟随扫罗率领的以色列军在以拉谷跟非利士人打仗。”
20大卫清早起来把羊交给一个牧人看顾，然后照父亲的吩咐带着食物出发了。他来到军营的时候，大军正呐喊着出战。 21以色列人与非利士人摆好阵势，两军对垒。 22大卫把带来的东西交给负责看守的人保管，自己跑到阵中去问候哥哥们。 23他们正在交谈的时候，非利士军中的迦特人歌利亚出来，像往常一样向以色列军骂阵，大卫都听见了。 24以色列人一看见歌利亚都竞相奔逃，极其害怕。 25以色列人彼此议论说：“看那个人！他是来向以色列军骂阵的。谁要能杀死他，王必有重赏，还会把女儿嫁给他为妻，并免去他父亲家在以色列应缴的赋税。” 26大卫问站在旁边的人：“如果有人杀了这非利士人，洗掉以色列人的羞辱，他会得到什么呢？这个未受割礼的非利士人是谁？竟敢向永活上帝的军队骂阵！” 27他们就把刚才的话一一告诉大卫。
28大卫的长兄以利押听见他跟人说话，就愤怒地对他说：“你来这里做什么？你把旷野的那几只羊交给谁了？我知道你骄傲自大，心怀恶意，你来只是想看打仗。” 29大卫说：“我做错了什么？我问一下都不行吗？” 30他又去问其他人同样的问题，得到了同样的答复。 31有人听见了大卫的话，就去告诉扫罗，扫罗便派人来召大卫。 32大卫对扫罗说：“大家不要因这个非利士人而丧胆，让仆人去战他。” 33扫罗说：“你不能去，你年纪还小，他却是一个久经沙场的战士。” 34大卫说：“我一直替父亲放羊，有时候狮子或熊会从羊群中叼走羊， 35我会去追打它，把羊从它口中救出来。如果它起来攻击我，我就揪着它的胡子把它打死。 36我曾打死过狮子和熊。这未受割礼的非利士人竟敢向永活上帝的军队骂阵，他的下场也必像狮子和熊一样。 37耶和华曾经从狮子和熊的利爪下拯救我，祂也必从这非利士人手中拯救我。”扫罗对大卫说：“去吧，愿耶和华与你同在。” 38扫罗把自己的战袍给大卫穿上，又给他戴上自己的头盔，穿上自己的铠甲。 39大卫把刀挎在战袍上，试着走了几步，却不习惯这种装束，就对扫罗说：“我穿着这些无法走路，因为我不习惯。”他便摘下头盔，卸下铠甲， 40然后拿着杖，在溪里捡了五块光滑的石头放进牧人用的袋子，拿着投石器向歌利亚走去。
41歌利亚也迎着大卫走来，卫士拿着他的盾牌走在前面。 42歌利亚见大卫是个面色红润、相貌英俊的少年，就藐视他。 43他对大卫说：“你拿着棍子来战我，难道我是一条狗吗？”他就凭自己的神明咒诅大卫， 44又说：“你过来，我要把你的肉丢给天上的飞禽和地上的走兽。” 45大卫答道：“你是靠刀枪剑戟来攻击我，我是靠万军之耶和华的名，就是你所蔑视的以色列军队的上帝来迎战你。 46今天，耶和华必把你交在我手中，我必杀死你，砍掉你的头，用非利士军兵的尸体喂飞禽走兽，使普天下都知道以色列有上帝。 47这里所有的人都必知道耶和华拯救人不靠刀枪，因为祂掌管战争的胜负。祂必把你们交在我们手中。” 48歌利亚迎面走来的时候，大卫就飞快地跑上去应战， 49他从袋里拿出一块石子用投石器猛力抛去，石子击中歌利亚的额头，嵌了进去，他迎面栽倒在地。
50大卫就这样不用刀剑，只用投石器和一块石子战胜了那个非利士人，杀死了他。 51大卫跑到那非利士人身边，从他刀鞘里拔出刀杀了他，并割下他的头颅。非利士人看见自己的英雄死了，纷纷逃跑。 52以色列人和犹大人乘势呐喊，追杀非利士人，直追到迦特和以革伦的城门。通往迦特和以革伦的沙拉音大道上到处是非利士人的尸体。 53以色列军队追杀非利士人回来，又掳掠了他们的营地。 54大卫把那非利士人的头颅带到耶路撒冷，把那人的兵器存放在自己的帐篷中。
55扫罗看见大卫出去迎战歌利亚，就问押尼珥元帅：“押尼珥啊，那少年是谁的儿子？”押尼珥答道：“王啊，我向你发誓，我真的不知道。” 56扫罗王说：“你去查查他是谁的儿子。” 57大卫杀了歌利亚回来，押尼珥就把他带到扫罗那里，他手上还拿着那非利士人的头颅。 58扫罗问他：“年轻人，你是谁的儿子？”大卫答道：“我是你仆人伯利恒人耶西的儿子。”
