The armies of Israel and the Philistines faced one another on opposite sides of the Valley of Elah. From the Philistine line came Goliath, a towering warrior. Day after day he called for Israel to send one man to fight him, proposing that the defeated people would serve the victors. Saul and the Israelites heard him and were afraid.
Jesse of Bethlehem had sons in Saul’s army. His youngest son, David, was caring for the sheep when Jesse sent him with grain, bread, and cheese for his brothers. When David reached the camp, Goliath came forward with the same challenge. David heard him defy Israel’s army and asked why no one had answered him.
David offered to fight. Saul warned that David was young and Goliath had been a soldier since his youth. David answered that while guarding sheep he had pursued lions and bears that carried off lambs, and that God had delivered him from those animals. The same God, he said, would deliver him from the Philistine. Saul put armor, a helmet, and a sword on David, but David took them off because he was not used to them.
David carried his staff to a stream, chose five smooth stones, placed them in his shepherd’s bag, and approached with his sling. Goliath despised him for coming with a stick. David answered that Goliath came with weapons, but he came in the name of the God of Israel’s armies.
When Goliath advanced, David ran toward the battle line, took out a stone, and slung it. The stone struck Goliath in the forehead, and he fell face down. David had no sword in his hand, so he drew Goliath’s own sword, killed him, and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw their champion dead, they fled. Israel and Judah pursued them, and David kept Goliath’s weapons in his tent.
When David reached the camp, Israel was taking its battle positions against the Philistines. He left his supplies with the keeper and ran to his brothers. While he spoke with them, Goliath came out and defied Israel. The Israelites fled in fear. They said the man who killed Goliath would receive great wealth, the king’s daughter, and freedom for his father’s house.
David’s oldest brother Eliab became angry, asking who had been left with the few sheep and accusing David of coming only to watch battle. David answered that he had only asked a question and turned to others. His words reached Saul, who summoned him. When David went out, he took not armor but the sling he knew and stones from the stream.
After David cut off Goliath’s head, Israel shouted and pursued Philistines to the gates of Gath and Ekron. Bodies lay along the road, and Israel returned to plunder the camp. David took Goliath’s head to Jerusalem and kept the weapons in his tent.