Chapter 17

³⁸And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these; for I have not used them." And David put them off him.

⁴⁰And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

⁴¹And the Philistine came on and drew near to David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.

⁴²And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

⁴³And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves a staff?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.”

⁴⁵Then said David to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to you in the name of AO, Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

⁴⁶This day will AO deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite you, and take your head from you; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day to the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

⁴⁷And all this assembly shall know that AO saves not with sword and spear: for the battle is AO’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

⁴⁸And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

⁴⁹And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; raised his staff and he Goliath fell upon his face to the earth.

⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone the staff of AO, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

⁵¹Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his Goliath’s sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and by cutting off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.