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From 1 Samuel (This is just the beginning of the story.):
16:1 And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long
wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?
fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite:
for I have provided me a king among his sons.
16:2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear [it], he will kill me. And the
LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the
LORD.
16:3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do:
and thou shalt anoint unto me [him] whom I name unto thee.
16:4 And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the
elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?
16:5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify
yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his
sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
16:6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and
said, Surely the LORD's anointed [is] before him.
16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the
height of his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not as
man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on
the heart.
16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said,
Neither hath the LORD chosen this.
16:9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD
chosen this.
16:10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said
unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.
16:11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all [thy] children? And he said,
There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come
hither.
16:12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he [was] ruddy, [and] withal of a
beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint
him: for this [is] he.
16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his
brethren: and the spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So
Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
16:14 But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the
LORD troubled him.
16:15 And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God
troubleth thee.
16:16 Let our lord now command thy servants, [which are] before thee, to seek
out a man, [who is] a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when
the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and
thou shalt be well.
16:17 And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well,
and bring [him] to me.
16:18 Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of
Jesse the Bethlehemite, [that is] cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man,
and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD [is]
with him.
16:19 Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy
son, which [is] with the sheep.
16:20 And Jesse took an ass [laden] with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid,
and sent [them] by David his son unto Saul.
16:21 And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly;
and he became his armourbearer.
16:22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me;
for he hath found favour in my sight.
16:23 And it came to pass, when the [evil] spirit from God was upon Saul, that
David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was
well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
Chapter 17
17:1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were
gathered together at Shochoh, which [belongeth] to Judah, and pitched between
Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
17:2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the
valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
17:3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood
on a mountain on the other side: and [there was] a valley between them.
17:4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named
Goliath, of Gath, whose height [was] six cubits and a span.
17:5 And [he had] an helmet of brass upon his head, and he [was] armed with a
coat of mail; and the weight of the coat [was] five thousand shekels of brass.
17:6 And [he had] greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between
his shoulders.
17:7 And the staff of his spear [was] like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head
[weighed] six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.
17:8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why
are ye come out to set [your] battle in array? [am] not I a Philistine, and ye
servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
17:9 If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your
servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our
servants, and serve us.
17:10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a
man, that we may fight together.
17:11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were
dismayed, and greatly afraid.
17:12 Now David [was] the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name
[was] Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men [for] an old man
in the days of Saul.
17:13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse went [and] followed Saul to the battle:
and the names of his three sons that went to the battle [were] Eliab the
firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
17:14 And David [was] the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.
17:15 But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at
Bethlehem.
17:16 And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself
forty days.
17:17 And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of
this parched [corn], and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;
17:18 And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of [their] thousand, and look
how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.
17:19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, [were] in the valley of
Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
17:20 And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper,
and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as
the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.
17:21 For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against
army.
17:22 And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and
ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.
17:23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the
Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and
spake according to the same words: and David heard [them].
17:24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were
sore afraid.
17:25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely
to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, [that] the man who killeth him,
the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and
make his father's house free in Israel.
17:26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done
to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from
Israel? for who [is] this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the
armies of the living God?
17:27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done
to the man that killeth him.
17:28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's
anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and
with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride,
and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest
see the battle.
17:29 And David said, What have I now done? [Is there] not a cause?
17:30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner:
and the people answered him again after the former manner.
17:31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed [them]
before Saul: and he sent for him.
17:32 And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy
servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
17:33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to
fight with him: for thou [art but] a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
17:34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there
came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
17:35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered [it] out of his
mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught [him] by his beard, and smote him,
and slew him.
17:36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised
Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the
living God.
17:37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the
lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this
Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.
17:38 And 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.
17:39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he
had not proved [it]. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I
have not proved [them]. And David put them off him.
17:40 And 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.
17:41 And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare
the shield [went] before him.
17:42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for
he was [but] a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
17:43 And the Philistine said unto David, [Am] I a dog, that thou comest to me
with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
17:44 And 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.
17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and
with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of
hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
17:46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee,
and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the
Philistines this day unto 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.
17:47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and
spear: for the battle [is] the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands.
17:48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to
meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
17:49 And 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; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
17:50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and
smote the Philistine, and slew him; but [there was] no sword in the hand of
David.
17:51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword,
and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head
therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
17:52 And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the
Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the
wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and
unto Ekron.
17:53 And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines,
and they spoiled their tents.
17:54 And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem;
but he put his armour in his tent.
17:55 And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto
Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son [is] this youth? And Abner
said, [As] thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
17:56 And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling [is].
17:57 And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took
him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
17:58 And Saul said to him, Whose son [art] thou, [thou] young man? And David
answered, I [am] the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.
For further study, read: