Goliath’s Challenge

17 Now ^(A)the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah, and they camped between ^(B)Socoh and ^(C)Azekah, in ^(D)Ephes-dammim. ² Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in ^(E)the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines. ³ The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them. ⁴ Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named ^(F)Goliath, from ^(G)Gath, whose height was six ^[a]cubits and a span. ⁵ He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor ^[b]which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze. ⁶ He also had bronze ^[c]greaves on his legs and a ^(H)bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. ^7 (I)The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; ^(J)his shield-carrier also walked before him. ⁸ He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you ^(K)servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. ^9 (L)If he is able to fight with me and ^[d]kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and ^[e]kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.” ¹⁰ Again the Philistine said, “^(M)I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.” ¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

¹² Now David was ^(N)the son of ^[f]the ^(O)Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and ^(P)he had eight sons. And ^[g]Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men. ¹³ The three older sons of Jesse had ^[h]gone after Saul to the battle. And ^(Q)the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and the second to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. ^14 (R)David was the youngest. Now the three oldest followed Saul, ^15 (S)but David went back and forth from Saul ^(T)to tend his father’s flock at Bethlehem. ¹⁶ The Philistine came ^[i]forward morning and evening for forty days and took his stand.

¹⁷ Then Jesse said to David his son, “^(U)Take now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp to your brothers. ^18 (V)Bring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their thousand, ^(W)and look into the welfare of your brothers, and bring back ^[j]news of them. ¹⁹ For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”

David Accepts the Challenge

²⁰ So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the ^(X)circle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array shouting the war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle array, army against army. ²² Then David left his ^(Y)baggage in the ^[k]care of the baggage keeper, and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brothers. ²³ As he was talking with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath named Goliath, was coming up from the army of the Philistines, and he spoke ^(Z)these same words; and David heard them.

²⁴ When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid. ²⁵ The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and ^(AA)will give him his daughter and make his father’s house ^[l]free in Israel.”

²⁶ Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away ^(AB)the reproach from Israel? For who is this ^(AC)uncircumcised Philistine, that he should ^(AD)taunt the armies of ^(AE)the living God?” ²⁷ The people ^[m]answered him in accord with this word, saying, “^(AF)Thus it will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and ^(AG)Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.” ²⁹ But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a ^[n]question?” ³⁰ Then he turned ^[o]away from him to another and ^(AH)said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as ^[p]before.

David Kills Goliath

³¹ When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them ^[q]to Saul, and he sent for him. ³² David said to Saul, “^(AI)Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; ^(AJ)your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³ Then Saul said to David, “^(AK)You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went out after him and ^[r]attacked him, and ^(AL)rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and ^[s]struck him and killed him. ³⁶ Your servant has ^[t]killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ And David said, “^(AM)The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “^(AN)Go, and may the Lord be with you.” ³⁸ Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. ³⁹ David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” And David took them ^[u]off. ⁴⁰ He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his pouch, and ^(AO)his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, ^(AP)he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ^(AQ)ruddy, with a handsome appearance. ⁴³ The Philistine said to David, “^(AR)Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And ^(AS)the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh ^(AT)to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” ⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, ^(AU)but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the ^(AV)dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, ^(AW)that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that ^(AX)the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; ^(AY)for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”

⁴⁸ Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that ^(AZ)David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰ Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. ⁵¹ Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and ^(BA)took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. ^(BB)When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵² The men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines ^[v]as far as the valley, and to the gates of ^(BC)Ekron. And the slain Philistines ^[w]lay along the way to ^(BD)Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ The sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their camps. ⁵⁴ Then David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

⁵⁵ Now when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is ^(BE)this young man?” And Abner said, “By your life, O king, I do not know.” ⁵⁶ The king said, “You inquire whose son the youth is.” ⁵⁷ So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and ^(BF)brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand. ⁵⁸ Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “^(BG)I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

Genealogy: Twelve Sons of Jacob (Israel)

2 ^(A)These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, ² Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

^3 (B)The sons of Judah were Er, Onan and Shelah; these three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanitess. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, so He put him to death. ^4 (C)Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.

⁵ The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ⁶ The sons of Zerah were ^[a]Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and ^[b]Dara; five of them in all. ⁷ The ^[c]son of Carmi was ^[d](D)Achar, the troubler of Israel, who violated the ban. ⁸ The ^[e]son of Ethan was Azariah.

Genealogy of David

⁹ Now the sons of Hezron, who were born to him were Jerahmeel, Ram and Chelubai. ¹⁰ Ram ^[f]became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, leader of the sons of Judah; ¹¹ Nahshon became the father of Salma, Salma became the father of Boaz, ¹² Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse; ¹³ and Jesse became the father of Eliab his firstborn, then Abinadab the second, ^[g]Shimea the third, ¹⁴ Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, ¹⁵ Ozem the sixth, David the seventh; ¹⁶ and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the three sons of Zeruiah were ^[h]Abshai, Joab and Asahel. ¹⁷ Abigail bore Amasa, and the father of Amasa was ^[i]Jether the Ishmaelite.

¹⁸ Now Caleb the son of Hezron had sons by Azubah his wife, and by Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. ¹⁹ When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur. ²⁰ Hur became the father of Uri, and Uri became the father of Bezalel.

²¹ Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was sixty years old; and she bore him Segub. ²² Segub became the father of Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. ²³ But Geshur and Aram took ^[j]the towns of Jair from them, with Kenath and its villages, even sixty cities. All these were the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead. ²⁴ After the death of Hezron in Caleb-ephrathah, Abijah, Hezron’s wife, bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa.

²⁵ Now the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were Ram the firstborn, then Bunah, Oren, Ozem and Ahijah. ²⁶ Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. ²⁷ The sons of Ram, the firstborn of Jerahmeel, were Maaz, Jamin and Eker. ²⁸ The sons of Onam were Shammai and Jada. And the sons of Shammai were Nadab and Abishur. ²⁹ The name of Abishur’s wife was Abihail, and she bore him Ahban and Molid. ³⁰ The sons of Nadab were Seled and Appaim, and Seled died without sons. ³¹ The ^[k]son of Appaim was Ishi. And the ^[l]son of Ishi was Sheshan. And the ^[m]son of Sheshan was Ahlai. ³² The sons of Jada the brother of Shammai were Jether and Jonathan, and Jether died without sons. ³³ The sons of Jonathan were Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. ³⁴ Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters. And Sheshan had an Egyptian servant whose name was Jarha. ³⁵ Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant in marriage, and she bore him Attai. ³⁶ Attai became the father of Nathan, and Nathan became the father of Zabad, ³⁷ and Zabad became the father of Ephlal, and Ephlal became the father of Obed, ³⁸ and Obed became the father of Jehu, and Jehu became the father of Azariah, ³⁹ and Azariah became the father of Helez, and Helez became the father of Eleasah, ⁴⁰ and Eleasah became the father of Sismai, and Sismai became the father of Shallum, ⁴¹ and Shallum became the father of Jekamiah, and Jekamiah became the father of Elishama.

⁴² Now the sons of Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel, were Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph; and ^[n]his son was Mareshah, the father of Hebron. ⁴³ The sons of Hebron were Korah and Tappuah and Rekem and Shema. ⁴⁴ Shema became the father of Raham, the father of Jorkeam; and Rekem became the father of Shammai. ⁴⁵ The son of Shammai was Maon, and Maon was the father of Bethzur. ⁴⁶ Ephah, Caleb’s concubine, bore Haran, Moza and Gazez; and Haran became the father of Gazez. ⁴⁷ The sons of Jahdai were Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah and Shaaph. ⁴⁸ Maacah, Caleb’s concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah. ⁴⁹ She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbena and the father of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. ⁵⁰ These were the sons of Caleb.

The ^[o]sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, were Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, ⁵¹ Salma the father of Bethlehem and Hareph the father of Beth-gader. ⁵² Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had sons: Haroeh, half of the Manahathites, ⁵³ and the families of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites and the Mishraites; from these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites. ⁵⁴ The sons of Salma were Bethlehem and the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites. ⁵⁵ The families of scribes who lived at Jabez were the Tirathites, the Shimeathites and the Sucathites. Those are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance

12 Now about that time ^[a]Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. ² And he ^(A)had James the brother of John ^(B)put to death with a sword. ³ When he saw that it ^(C)pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now ^[b]it was during ^(D)the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four ^[c](E)squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after ^(F)the Passover to bring him out before the people. ⁵ So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

⁶ On ^[d]the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, ^(G)bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. ⁷ And behold, ^(H)an angel of the Lord suddenly ^(I)appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And ^(J)his chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and ^[e]put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹ And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing ^(K)a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which ^(L)opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. ¹¹ When Peter ^(M)came ^[f]to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that ^(N)the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all ^[g]that the Jewish people were expecting.” ¹² And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of ^(O)John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and ^(P)were praying. ¹³ When he knocked at the door of the gate, ^(Q)a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, ^(R)because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is ^(S)his angel.” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But ^(T)motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to ^[h](U)James and ^(V)the brethren.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸ Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to ^[i]what could have become of Peter. ¹⁹ When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they ^(W)be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to ^(X)Caesarea and was spending time there.

Death of Herod

²⁰ Now he was very angry with the people of ^(Y)Tyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because ^(Z)their country was fed by the king’s country. ²¹ On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the ^[j]rostrum and began delivering an address to them. ²² The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³ And immediately ^(AA)an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and ^[k]died.

²⁴ But ^(AB)the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

²⁵ And ^(AC)Barnabas and ^(AD)Saul returned ^[l]from Jerusalem ^(AE)when they had fulfilled their ^[m]mission, taking along with them ^(AF)John, who was also called Mark.