1 Samuel 17:40-58

17:40 He took his staff in his hand, picked out five smooth stones from the stream, placed them in the pouch ¹  of his shepherd’s bag, took his sling in hand, and approached the Philistine.

17:41 ² The Philistine kept coming closer to David, with his shield bearer walking in front of him. 17:42 When the Philistine looked carefully at David, he despised him, for he was only a ruddy and handsome boy. 17:43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you are coming after me with sticks?” ³  Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 17:44 The Philistine said to David, “Come here to me, so I can give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the field!” ⁴ 

17:45 But David replied to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom you have defied! 17:46 This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God 17:47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

17:48 The Philistine drew steadily closer to David to attack him, while David quickly ran toward the battle line to attack the Philistine. ⁵  17:49 David reached his hand into the bag and took out a stone. He slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank deeply into his forehead, and he fell down with his face to the ground.

17:50 ⁶ David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. ⁷  17:51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath’s ⁸  sword, drew it from its sheath, ⁹  killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran away.

17:52 Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward, shouting a battle cry. ¹⁰  They chased the Philistines to the valley ¹¹  and to the very gates of Ekron. The Philistine corpses lay fallen along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 17:53 When the Israelites returned from their hot pursuit of the Philistines, they looted their camp. 17:54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, ¹²  and he put Goliath’s ¹³  weapons in his tent.

17:55 ¹⁴ Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.” 17:56 The king said, “Find out whose son this boy is!”

17:57 So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. He still had the head of the Philistine in his hand. 17:58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” David replied, “I am the son of your servant Jesse in Bethlehem.” ¹⁵ 

[17:40]  ¹ tn This Hebrew word occurs only here and its exact meaning is not entirely clear. It refers to a receptacle of some sort and apparently was a common part of a shepherd’s equipment. Here it serves as a depository for the stones that David will use in his sling.

[17:41]  ² tc Most LXX mss lack v. 41.

[17:43]  ³ sn Sticks is a pejorative reference to David’s staff (v. 40); the same Hebrew word (מַקֵּל, maqqel) is used for both.

[17:44]  ⁴ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss have “the earth” here, instead of the MT’s “the field.”

[17:48]  ⁵ tc Most LXX mss lack the second half of v. 48.

[17:50]  ⁶ tc Most LXX mss lack v. 50.

[17:50]  ⁷ tn Verse 50 is a summary statement; v. 51 gives a more detailed account of how David killed the Philistine.

[17:51]  ⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:51]  ⁹ tc Most LXX mss lack the words “drew it from its sheath.”

[17:52]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “arose and cried out.”

[17:52]  ¹¹ tc Most of the LXX ms tradition has here “Gath.”

[17:54]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[17:54]  ¹³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:55]  ¹⁴ tc Most LXX mss lack 17:55–18:5.

[17:58]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.