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 and bread for his brothers and cheese for their commander. When David reached the camp, Goliath came forward with the same challenge. David heard him defy Israel’s army and asked what would be done for the man who defeated him and who this Philistine was to defy the army of the living God.
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 took his staff, chose five smooth stones from the stream, and placed them in his shepherd’s bag. He approached with a sling, a tool used to throw stones. Goliath asked whether David thought he was a dog, coming at him 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 facedown. 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 armor in his tent.