1 Samuel 17
Open in the reader1Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Thicket in Praised, and they camped between Thicket and Tilled-Ground in Boundary-of-Bloods.
2Asked-For and the men of Strives-with-God assembled and camped in the Valley of Terebinth, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines.
3The Philistines stood on one hill and the children of Strives-with-God stood on another, with the valley between them.
4Then a champion named Exile, who was from Wine-Press, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,
5and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels,
6and he had armor of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.
7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. In addition, his shield bearer went before him.
8And Exile stood and shouted to the ranks of Strives-with-God, “Why do you come out and array yourselves for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Asked-For? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.
9If 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 work for us.”
10Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Strives-with-God this day! Give me a man to fight!”
11On hearing the words of the Philistine, Asked-For and all the children of Strives-with-God were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12Now Beloved was the son of a man named Man-of-He-Who-Is, an Fruitful-One from House-of-Bread of Praised who had eight sons. And in the days of Asked-For, Man-of-He-Who-Is was old and well along in years.
13The three older sons of Man-of-He-Who-Is had followed Asked-For into battle: The firstborn was My-God-Is-Father, the second was My-Father-Is-Generous, and the third was Desolation.
14And Beloved was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Asked-For,
15but Beloved went back and forth from Asked-For to tend his father’s sheep in House-of-Bread.
16For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.
17One day Man-of-He-Who-Is said to his son Beloved, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
18Take 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.
19They are with Asked-For and all the men of Strives-with-God in the Valley of Terebinth, fighting against the Philistines.”
20So Beloved got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Man-of-He-Who-Is had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry.
21And Strives-with-God and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.
22Then Beloved 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.
23And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Exile, the Philistine from Wine-Press, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which Beloved also heard.
24When all the men of Strives-with-God saw Exile, they fled from him in great fear.
25Now the men of Strives-with-God had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out to defy Strives-with-God? 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 Strives-with-God.”
26Beloved asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Strives-with-God? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28Now when Beloved’s oldest brother My-God-Is-Father heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against Beloved. “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!”
29“What have I done now?” said Beloved. “Was it not just a question?”
30Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered.
31Now Beloved’s words were overheard and reported to Asked-For, who sent for him.
32And Beloved said to Asked-For, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!”
33But Asked-For 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.”
34Beloved 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,
35I 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.
36Your 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.”
37Beloved added, “He-Who-Is, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” “Go,” said Asked-For, “and may He-Who-Is be with you.”
38Then Asked-For clothed Beloved in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor.
39Beloved strapped his sword over the tunic and tried to walk, but he was not accustomed to them. “I cannot walk in these,” Beloved said to Asked-For. “I am not accustomed to them.” So Beloved took them off.
40And Beloved 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.
41Now the Philistine came closer and closer to Beloved, with his shield-bearer before him.
42When the Philistine looked and saw Beloved, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome.
43“Am I a dog,” he said to Beloved, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed Beloved by his gods.
44“Come here,” he called to Beloved, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
45But Beloved said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of He-Who-Is of Hosts, the God of the armies of Strives-with-God, whom you have defied.
46This day He-Who-Is will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Strives-with-God.
47And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that He-Who-Is saves; for the battle is He-Who-Is’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”
48As the Philistine started forward to attack him, Beloved ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
49Then Beloved 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.
50Thus Beloved prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51Beloved 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. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
52Then the men of Strives-with-God and Praised charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Wine-Press and to the gates of Uprooting. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Two-Gates road to Wine-Press and Uprooting.
53When the children of Strives-with-God returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps.
54Beloved took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Foundation-of-Peace, and he put Exile’s weapons in his own tent.
55As Asked-For had watched Beloved going out to confront the Philistine, he said to My-Father-Is-a-Lamp the commander of the army, “My-Father-Is-a-Lamp, whose son is this young man?” “As surely as you live, O king,” My-Father-Is-a-Lamp replied, “I do not know.”
56“Find out whose son this young man is!” said the king.
57So when Beloved returned from killing the Philistine, still holding his head in his hand, My-Father-Is-a-Lamp took him and brought him before Asked-For.
58“Whose son are you, young man?” asked Asked-For. “I am the son of your servant Man-of-He-Who-Is of House-of-Bread,” Beloved replied.