David and Goliath

17 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled^(A) at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh^(B) and Azekah.^{(C) 2} Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah^(D) and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. ³ The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

⁴ A champion named Goliath,^(E) who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.^{[a] 5} He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels^[b]; ⁶ on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin^(F) was slung on his back. ⁷ His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod,^(G) and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.^[c] His shield bearer^(H) went ahead of him.

⁸ Goliath 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^(I) a man and have him come down to me. ⁹ If 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.” ¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy^(J) the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.^(K)” ¹¹ On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

¹² Now David was the son of an Ephrathite^(L) named Jesse,^(M) who was from Bethlehem^(N) in Judah. Jesse had eight^(O) sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab;^(P) the second, Abinadab;^(Q) and the third, Shammah.^{(R) 14} David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, ¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to tend^(S) his father’s sheep^(T) at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

¹⁷ Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah^[d](U) of roasted grain^(V) and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers^(W) are and bring back some assurance^[e] from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰ Early 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. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. ²² David left his things with the keeper of supplies,^(X) ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual^(Y) defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴ Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

²⁵ Now 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^(Z) in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes^(AA) in Israel.”

²⁶ David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace^(AB) from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised^(AC) Philistine that he should defy^(AD) the armies of the living^(AE) God?”

²⁷ They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger^(AF) 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?” ³⁰ He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart^(AG) on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

³³ Saul replied,^(AH) “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.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion^(AI) or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized^(AJ) it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion^(AK) and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord who rescued^(AL) me from the paw of the lion^(AM) 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^(AN) you.”

³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own^(AO) tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹ David 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. ⁴⁰ Then 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.

⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer^(AP) in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴² He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome,^(AQ) and he despised^(AR) him. ⁴³ He said to David, “Am I a dog,^(AS) 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^(AT) and the wild animals!^(AU)”

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,^(AV) but I come against you in the name^(AW) of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.^{(AX) 46} This day the Lord will deliver^(AY) you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses^(AZ) of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world^(BA) will know that there is a God in Israel.^{(BB) 47} All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword^(BC) or spear that the Lord saves;^(BD) for the battle^(BE) is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

⁴⁸ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹ Reaching 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.

⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling^(BF) and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

⁵¹ David 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^(BG) off his head with the sword.^(BH)

When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. ⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath^[f] and to the gates of Ekron.^(BI) Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim^(BJ) road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

⁵⁴ David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵ As Saul watched David^(BK) going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner,^(BL) whose son is that young man?”

Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

⁵⁷ As 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^(BM) of Bethlehem.”

16 “All this^(A) I have told you so that you will not fall away.^{(B) 2} They will put you out of the synagogue;^(C) in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.^{(D) 3} They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.^{(E) 4} I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember^(F) that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,^{(G) 5} but now I am going to him who sent me.^(H) None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’^{(I) 6} Rather, you are filled with grief^(J) because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate^(K) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.^{(L) 8} When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin,^(M) because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness,^(N) because I am going to the Father,^(O) where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world^(P) now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.^{(Q) 13} But when he, the Spirit of truth,^(R) comes, he will guide you into all the truth.^(S) He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine.^(T) That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The Disciples’ Grief Will Turn to Joy

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while^(U) you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”^(V)

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’^(W) and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”^{(X) 18} They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn^(Y) while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.^{(Z) 21} A woman giving birth to a child has pain^(AA) because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief,^(AB) but I will see you again^(AC) and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.^{(AD) 23} In that day^(AE) you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.^{(AF) 24} Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive,^(AG) and your joy will be complete.^(AH)

²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively,^(AI) a time is coming^(AJ) when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name.^(AK) I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me^(AL) and have believed that I came from God.^{(AM) 28} I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”^(AN)

²⁹ Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech.^{(AO) 30} Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe^(AP) that you came from God.”^(AQ)

³¹ “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. ³² “A time is coming^(AR) and in fact has come when you will be scattered,^(AS) each to your own home. You will leave me all alone.^(AT) Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.^(AU)

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.^(AV) In this world you will have trouble.^(AW) But take heart! I have overcome^(AX) the world.”