¹The Philistines gathered their armies for war; they assembled at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and between Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.

²Saul and the men of Israel assembled and encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in order for war, to meet the Philistines.

³The Philistines were standing on the mountain on one side, and Israel was standing on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them.

⁴A champion went out from the camps of the Philistines, Goliath was his name, from Gath; his height was six cubits and a span.

⁵A helmet of bronze was on his head, and he was clothed in a coat of mail of scales, and the weight of the coat of mail was five thousand shekels of bronze.

⁶Greaves of bronze were on his feet, and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders.

⁷The wood of his spear was like a beam of weavers, and the flame-point of his spear was six hundred shekels of iron; and the one who carried the shield walked before his face.

⁸He stood and called out to the battle lines of Israel, and said to them: Why do you come out to draw up in order for war? Am I not the Philistine, and you slaves of Saul? Choose for yourselves a man, and let him come down to me.

⁹If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, then we will become slaves to you; but if I prevail over him and strike him down, then you will become slaves to us and you will serve us.

¹⁰The Philistine said: I have taunted the battle lines of Israel this day; give me a man, and let us fight together.

¹¹Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, and they were dismayed and feared exceedingly.

¹²And David was the son of that Ephrathite man from Beth-lechem of Judah, and his name was Jesse, and to him were eight sons; and the man in the days of Saul was old, came in among men.

¹³The three older sons of Jesse went, they went after Saul to the war. The names of his three sons who went to the war were Eliab the firstborn, his second Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

¹⁴And David, he was the youngest, and the three oldest went after Saul.

¹⁵And David was going and returning from Saul to shepherd his father's flock at Beth-Lechem.

¹⁶And the Philistine drew near, starting early and at dusk, and took his stand for forty days.

¹⁷And Jesse said to David his son, Please take for your brothers this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves, and rush them to the camp, to your brothers.

¹⁸And you are to bring these ten slices of milk-curd to the commander of the thousand, look in on your brothers for wholeness, and take their token.

¹⁹And Saul and they and every man of Israel were in the vale of Elah, engaged in battle against the Philistines.

²⁰And David started early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, took up and went as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the entrenchment as the army was going out to the battle line, and they raised the war cry in the battle.

²¹And Israel and the Philistines arranged battle line to meet battle line.

²²And David left the baggage off himself, into the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the battle line, and came and asked his brothers about their wholeness.

²³And he was speaking with them, and look, the champion was coming up, Goliath the Philistine was his name, from Gath, from the battle lines of the Philistines, and he spoke words like these; and David heard.

²⁴And every man of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from his face, and they feared exceedingly.

²⁵And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who keeps coming up? For he is coming up to taunt Israel. And it will be that the man who strikes him down, the king will make him rich with great wealth, and will give him his daughter, and will make his father's house free in Israel.

²⁶And David said to the men standing with him, What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and removes the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he has taunted the battle lines of the living God?

²⁷And the people said to him according to this word: Thus it will be done for the man who strikes him down.

²⁸And Eliab, his older brother, heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger burned against David, and he said, Why then have you come down, and in whose charge have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and the badness of your heart, for you have come down in order to see the battle.

²⁹And David said, What have I done now? Is it not a word?

³⁰And he turned away from beside him to the front of another, and said a word like this one; and the people brought him back a word like the first word.

³¹And the words that David spoke were heard, and they told it before Saul's face, and he took him.

³²And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fall on account of him; your servant will go and do battle with this Philistine.

³³And Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to do battle with him, for you are a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.

³⁴And David said to Saul, Your servant was shepherding for his father among the flock, and a lion came, and a bear with it, and carried off a sheep from the herd.

³⁵And I went out after it, and struck it, and rescued it from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I took hold of its beard, and struck it, and put it to death.

³⁶Both the lion and the bear your servant has struck down; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has taunted the battle lines of the living God.

³⁷And David said, Yahweh, who delivered me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and Yahweh will be with you.

³⁸And Saul clothed David with his garments, and set a bronze helmet on his head, and clothed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹And David girded on his sword over his garments, and undertook to walk, for he had not tested it. And David said to Saul, I cannot walk in these, for I have not tested them. And David removed them from himself.

⁴⁰And he took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in the shepherds' gear that he had, in the pouch; and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.

⁴¹And the Philistine went, coming and drawing near to David, and the man who carried the large shield was in front of him.

⁴²And the Philistine looked, and saw David, and despised him; for he was a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance.

⁴³And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you are coming to me with staffs? And the Philistine cursed David by his God.

⁴⁴And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the skies and to the beasts of the field.

⁴⁵And David said to the Philistine, You are coming against me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have reproached.

⁴⁶This day Yahweh will shut you up in my hand, and I will strike you down and remove your head from upon you, and I will give the carcasses of the Philistine camp this day to the birds of the skies and to the beasts of the land, and all the land will know that there is a God for Israel.

⁴⁷And all this company will know that Yahweh does not save by sword or spear; for the battle is Yahweh's, and he will give you into our hand.

⁴⁸And it happened, when the Philistine rose and went and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran to the battle line to meet the Philistine.

⁴⁹And David stretched out his hand into the vessel and took a stone from there, and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the land.

⁵⁰And David was stronger than the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck down the Philistine and put him to death; and there was no sword in the hand of David.

⁵¹And David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it from its sheath, and put him to death and cut off his head with it. And the Philistines saw that their mighty man had died, and they fled.

⁵²And the men of Israel and Judah rose and blew an alarm, and ran after the Philistines until you come to the valley and to the gates of Ekron; and the slain of the Philistines fell on the way of Shaaraim and as far as Gath and as far as Ekron.

⁵³And the children of Israel returned from hotly pursuing after the Philistines, and plundered their camps.

⁵⁴And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put his weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵And as Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, captain of the host, Whose son is this boy, Abner? And Abner said, By the life of your being, O king, I do not know.

⁵⁶And the king said, Inquire, you whose son this young man is.

⁵⁷And when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before the face of Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

⁵⁸And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, boy? And David said, The son of your slave Jesse the Beth-lehemite.