1st Shamu'AL (1 Samuel) — 17

Guliath Challenges the Yasharalym 

1 The Philistines now mustered their army for battle and camped between Sucuh in Yahudah and Azakah at Aphas-dammim. 

2 Shaul countered by gathering his Yasharalym troops near the valley of Alah. 

3 So the Philistines and Yasharalym faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them.

4 Then Guliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Yashar'AL, he was over nine feet tall! 

5 He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed one hundred and twenty five pounds. 

6 He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. 

7 The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed fifteen pounds, his armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.

8 Guliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Yasharalym. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Shaul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! 

9 If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! 

10 I defy the armies of Yashar'AL today! Send me a man who will fight me!” 

11 When Shaul and the Yasharalym heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.

Yassa Sends Daud to Shaul’s Camp

12 Now Daud was the son of a man named Yassa, an Aphrathite from Bathlaham in the land of Yahudah. Yassa was an old man at that time, and he had eight sons. 

13 Yassa’s three oldest sons, Aliab, Abinadab, and Shimaa, had already joined Shaul’s army to fight the Philistines. 

14 Daud was the youngest son. Daud’s three oldest brothers stayed with Shaul’s army, 

15 but Daud went back and forth so he could help his father with the sheep in Bathlaham.

16 For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Yasharalym army.

17 One day Yassa said to Daud, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. 

18 And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.” 

19 Daud’s brothers were with Shaul and the Yasharalym army at the valley of Alah, fighting against the Philistines.

20 So Daud left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts, as Yassa had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Yasharalym army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries. 

21 Soon the Yasharalym and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army. 

22 Daud left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. 

23 As he was talking with them, Guliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks, then Daud heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Yashar'AL.

24 As soon as the Yasharalym army saw him, they began to run away in fright. 

25 “Have you seen the giant?” the men asked. “He comes out each day to defy Yashar'AL. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him, he will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!”

26 Daud asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Yashar'AL? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH?”

27 And these men gave Daud the same reply. They said, “Yes, that is the reward for killing him.”

28 But when Daud’s oldest brother, Aliab, heard Daud talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!”

29 “And Daud replied; What have I done now? “I was only asking a question!” 

30 He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer. 

31 Then Daud’s question was reported to King Shaul, and the king sent for him.

Daud Kills Guliath

32 “Daud told king Shaul; Do not worry about this Philistine, “I will go fight him!”

33 And Shaul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”

34 But Daud persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, 

35 I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 

36 I have killed both lions and bears, and I will kill this pagan Philistine too, for he has defied the armies of the living 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH! 

37 For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” Shaul finally consented. “All right, go ahead, “And may  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH be with you!”

38 Then Shaul gave Daud his own armor, a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. 

39 Daud put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can not go in these,” Daud protested to king Shaul. “I am not used to them.” So Daud took them off again. 

40 And Daud picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.

41 Guliath walked out toward Daud with his shield bearer ahead of him, 

42 sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. 

43 Guliath roared at Daud, am I a dog “that you come at me with a stick?” And Guliath cursed Daud by the names of his pagan idols. 

44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Guliath yelled.

45 Daud replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH  Tsaba'ut the 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of the armies of Yashar'AL, whom you have defied. 

46 Today 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head, and then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is an 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH  in Yashar'AL! 

47 And everyone assembled here will know that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH rescues His people, but not with sword and spear. This is the battle of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH will give you to us!”

48 As Guliath moved closer to attack Daud, to his surprise, Daud hurried and ran towards Guliath. 

49 Reaching into his shepherd’s bag, Daud took out a stone, and Daud slung it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Guliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.

50 So Daud triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone, for Daud had no sword.

51 Then Daud ran over and pulled Guliath’s sword from its sheath. Daud used it to kill him and cut off his head.

Yashar'AL Routs the Philistines

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran. 

52 Then the men of Yashar'AL and Yahudah gave a great shout of triumph and rushed after the Philistines, chasing them as far as Gath and the gates of Akrun. The bodies of the dead and wounded Philistines were strewn all along the road from Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Akrun. 

53 Then the Yasharalym army returned and plundered the deserted Philistine camp. 

54 (Daud took the Philistine’s head to Yahushalam, but he stored the man’s armor in his own tent.)

55 As Shaul watched Daud go out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of his army, “Abnar, whose son is this young man? “and Abnar said to Shaul; I really do not know,”

56 “Well, find out who he is!” the king told him.

57 As soon as Daud returned from killing Guliath, Abnar brought him to Shaul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand. 

58 “Tell me about your father, young man,” Shaul said. And Daud replied, “His name is Yassa, and we live in Bathlaham.”