David and Goliath

1 Samuel 17:1-58

     Saul was still king over the people of Israel when the Philistines started war with them. The Philistine army stood on a hill on one side of the valley, and the army of Israel stood on a hill on the other side.

     Out of the Philistine camp came a giant of a soldier, named Goliath. He was about nine feet tall. He wore a great bronze helmet and armor and carried a huge spear made of heavy metal.

     "Why haven't you come out to fight?" Goliath shouted across the valley at Saul's army. "Choose a man to fight me. If he can kill me, you win this war. But if I kill him, the people of Israel will be our slaves."

     When Saul and the army of Israel heard these words, they were terrified. Now the three eldest sons of Jesse were in Saul's army. The youngest of Jesse's eight sons was David, who took feed to the family's sheep at Bethlehem. One night Jesse told David, "Take this sack of grain and ten loaves of bread and ten cheeses to your brothers and their group in the army. Bring back news of how they are doing in the battle."

     David got up early the next morning and left the sheep with a keeper. He set out with the food and got to the camp just as the army was getting ready to fight.

     After David arrived, the giant Goliath came out on his mountain and shouted as before. When the men of Israel heard and saw him they ran back, full of fear. The soldiers called to David, "Have you seen that giant who came to fight us?" Anyone who can kill him will become rich and marry the king's daughter and not have to pay taxes."

     David said, "Who is the Philistine giant?" How does he dare come against God's own people?"

     David's oldest brother heard him talking to the men and was angry. "David, what are you doing here? he cried. "Why have you left our sheep without anyone to watch them? You only come to see the fighting."

     Soon the king heard about David and sent for him. David came to his tent, "Do not give up, sir," David said. "I will go fight the giant!"

     "What?" cried Saul. "You are only a boy, and Goliath has been a soldier all his life."

     But David told Saul, "I am my father's shepherd. If a bear or a lion tries to eat a lamb, I grab him by the fur and save the little one. I have killed both lions and bears, and I know how to kill this Philistine. God has saved me from the claws of lions and bears," said David. "God will save me from the giant who is against God's own people."

     Saul cried, "Go, then! And the Lord go with you!" He gave David armor, a helmet, and a sword to wear. But when David put these heavy things on, he couldn't move, because he wasn't used to them. So he took them off. David went to a little stream and picked five smooth stones. He put these in his shepherd's bag. He took his tall shepherd's stick and his leather sling and went to meet the giant.

     Goliath came out and saw David. "Am I a dog? Do you come to chase me with a stick?" he roared at David. "Come up here, and I'll feed you to the birds of the air and the beast of the field!"

     David shouted back. "You come with a sword and a spear to fight. But I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel!"

     The giant stood up and started toward the boy. David ran quickly toward the battle line. He took a stone from his bag and put it in his sling. Then he spun around and round and let the rock fly.

     The stone his Goliath in the forehead so hard that the giant fell on his face to the ground, dead.

     When the Philistines saw that David had killed the giant without a sword or spear, they ran away. The army of Israel chased them for miles.

     After Goliath was killed, Saul talked to David, asking him whose son he was, "I am David, Jesse's youngest son, and I come from Bethlehem," David answered.