The First Book of Shemu'el, starting at chapter 16
{16:1} The LORD said to Shemu'el, How long will you mourn for
Sha'ul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Yisra'el? fill
your horn with oil, and go: I will send you to Yishai the
Beit-Hallachmite; for I have provided me a king among his sons. {16:2}
Shemu'el said, How can I go? if Sha'ul hear it, he will kill me. The
LORD said, Take a heifer with you, and say, I am come to sacrifice to
the LORD. {16:3} Call Yishai to the sacrifice, and I will show you
what you shall do: and you shall anoint to me him whom I name to you.
{16:4} Shemu'el did that which the LORD spoke, and came to
Beit-Lechem. The Zakenim of the city came to meet him trembling, and
said, Come you peaceably? {16:5} He said, Peaceably; I am come to
sacrifice to the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the
sacrifice. He sanctified Yishai and his sons, and called them to the
sacrifice. {16:6} It happened, when they had come, that he looked at
Eli'av, and said, Surely the LORD's anointed is before him. {16:7} But
the LORD said to Shemu'el, "Don't look on his face, or on the height
of his stature; because I have rejected him: for [the LORD sees] not
as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD
looks at the heart." {16:8} Then Yishai called Avinadav, and made him
pass before Shemu'el. He said, Neither has the LORD chosen this.
{16:9} Then Yishai made Shammah to pass by. He said, Neither has the
LORD chosen this. {16:10} Yishai made seven of his sons to pass before
Shemu'el. Shemu'el said to Yishai, the LORD has not chosen these.
{16:11} Shemu'el said to Yishai, Are here all your children? He said,
There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he is keeping the sheep.
Shemu'el said to Yishai, Send and get him; for we will not sit down
until he come here. {16:12} He sent, and brought him in. Now he was
ruddy, and withal of a beautiful face, and goodly to look on. The LORD
said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he. {16:13} Then Shemu'el took
the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and
the Spirit of the LORD came mightily on David from that day forward.
So Shemu'el rose up, and went to Ramah. {16:14} Now the Spirit of the
LORD departed from Sha'ul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled
him. {16:15} Sha'ul's servants said to him, See now, an evil spirit
from God troubles you. {16:16} Let our lord now command your servants
who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the
harp: and it shall happen, when the evil spirit from God is on you,
that he shall play with his hand, and you shall be well. {16:17}
Sha'ul said to his servants, Provide me now a man who can play well,
and bring him to me. {16:18} Then answered one of the young men, and
said, Behold, I have seen a son of Yishai the Beit-Hallachmite, who is
skillful in playing, and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and
prudent in speech, and a comely person; and the LORD is with him.
{16:19} Therefore Sha'ul sent messengers to Yishai, and said, Send me
David your son, who is with the sheep. {16:20} Yishai took a donkey
loaded with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by
David his son to Sha'ul. {16:21} David came to Sha'ul, and stood
before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armor bearer.
{16:22} Sha'ul sent to Yishai, saying, Please let David stand before
me; for he has found favor in my sight. {16:23} It happened, when the
[evil] spirit from God was on Sha'ul, that David took the harp, and
played with his hand: so Sha'ul was refreshed, and was well, and the
evil spirit departed from him.
{17:1} Now the Pelishtim gathered together their armies to battle;
and they were gathered together at Sokho, which belongs to Yehudah,
and encamped between Sokho and `Azeka, in Efes-Dammim. {17:2} Sha'ul
and the men of Yisra'el were gathered together, and encamped in the
valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Pelishtim.
{17:3} The Pelishtim stood on the mountain on the one side, and
Yisra'el stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a
valley between them. {17:4} There went out a champion out of the camp
of the Pelishtim, named Golyat, of Gat, whose height was six cubits
and a span. {17:5} He had a helmet of brass on his head, and he was
clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand
shekels of brass. {17:6} He had brass shin-armor on his legs, and a
javelin of brass between his shoulders. {17:7} The staff of his spear
was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head [weighed] six hundred
shekels of iron: and his shield-bearer went before him. {17:8} He
stood and cried to the armies of Yisra'el, and said to them, Why are
you come out to set your battle in array? am I not a Pelishti, and you
servants to Sha'ul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to
me. {17:9} If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we
be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then
shall you be our servants, and serve us. {17:10} The Pelishti said, I
defy the armies of Yisra'el this day; give me a man, that we may fight
together. {17:11} When Sha'ul and all Yisra'el heard those words of
the Pelishti, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. {17:12} Now
David was the son of that Efratite of Beit-Lechem-Yehudah, whose name
was Yishai; and he had eight sons: and the man was an old man in the
days of Sha'ul, stricken [in years] among men. {17:13} The three
eldest sons of Yishai had gone after Sha'ul to the battle: and the
names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eli'av the
firstborn, and next to him Avinadav, and the third Shammah. {17:14}
David was the youngest; and the three eldest followed Sha'ul. {17:15}
Now David went back and forth from Sha'ul to feed his father's sheep
at Beit-Lechem. {17:16} The Pelishti drew near morning and evening,
and presented himself forty days. {17:17} Yishai said to David his
son, Take now for your brothers an efah of this parched grain, and
these ten loaves, and carry [them] quickly to the camp to your
brothers; {17:18} and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their
thousand, and look how your brothers fare, and take their pledge.
{17:19} Now Sha'ul, and they, and all the men of Yisra'el, were in the
valley of Elah, fighting with the Pelishtim. {17:20} David rose up
early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and
went, as Yishai had commanded him; and he came to the place of the
wagons, as the host which was going forth to the fight shouted for the
battle. {17:21} Yisra'el and the Pelishtim put the battle in array,
army against army. {17:22} David left his baggage in the hand of the
keeper of the baggage, and ran to the army, and came and greeted his
brothers. {17:23} As he talked with them, behold, there came up the
champion, the Pelishti of Gat, Golyat by name, out of the ranks of the
Pelishtim, and spoke according to the same words: and David heard
them. {17:24} All the men of Yisra'el, when they saw the man, fled
from him, and were sore afraid. {17:25} The men of Yisra'el said, Have
you seen this man who is come up? surely to defy Yisra'el is he come
up: and it shall be, that the man who kills him, the king will enrich
him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his
father's house free in Yisra'el. {17:26} David spoke to the men who
stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man who kills this
Pelishti, and takes away the reproach from Yisra'el? for who is this
uncircumcised Pelishti, that he should defy the armies of the living
God? {17:27} The people answered him after this manner, saying, So
shall it be done to the man who kills him. {17:28} Eli'av his eldest
brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eli'av's anger was kindled
against David, and he said, Why are you come down? and with whom have
you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the
naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see
the battle. {17:29} David said, What have I now done? Is there not a
cause? {17:30} He turned away from him toward another, and spoke after
the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former
manner. {17:31} When the words were heard which David spoke, they
rehearsed them before Sha'ul; and he sent for him. {17:32} David said
to Sha'ul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will
go and fight with this Pelishti. {17:33} Sha'ul said to David, You are
not able to go against this Pelishti to fight with him; for you are
but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. {17:34} David said to
Sha'ul, Your servant was keeping his father's sheep; and when there
came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, {17:35} I
went out after him, and struck him, and delivered it out of his mouth;
and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck
him, and killed him. {17:36} Your servant struck both the lion and the
bear: and this uncircumcised Pelishti shall be as one of them, seeing
he has defied the armies of the living God. {17:37} David said, the
LORD who 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 Pelishti.
Sha'ul said to David, Go, and the LORD shall be with you. {17:38}
Sha'ul clad David with his clothing, and he put a helmet of brass on
his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. {17:39} David girded
his sword on his clothing, and he tried to go; for he had not proved
it. David said to Sha'ul, I can't go with these; for I have not proved
them. David put them off him. {17:40} He took his staff in his hand,
and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the
shepherd's bag which he had, even in his wallet; and his sling was in
his hand: and he drew near to the Pelishti. {17:41} The Pelishti came
on and drew near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before
him. {17:42} When the Pelishti looked about, and saw David, he
disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and withal of a fair
face. {17:43} The Pelishti said to David, Am I a dog, that you come to
me with sticks? The Pelishti cursed David by his gods. {17:44} The
Pelishti said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the
birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field. {17:45} Then said
David to the Pelishti, You come to me with a sword, and with a spear,
and with a javelin: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of
hosts, the God of the armies of Yisra'el, whom you have defied.
{17:46} This day will the LORD deliver you into my hand; and I will
strike you, and take your head from off you; and I will give the dead
bodies of the host of the Pelishtim this day to the birds of the sky,
and to the wild animals of the [1>]eretz[<1]; that all the
[2>]eretz[<2] may know that there is a God in Yisra'el, {17:47} and
that all this assembly may know that the LORD doesn't save with sword
and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our
hand. {17:48} It happened, when the Pelishti arose, and came and drew
near to meet David, that David hurried, and ran toward the army to
meet the Pelishti. {17:49} David put his hand in his bag, and took
there a stone, and slang it, and struck the Pelishti in his forehead;
and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the
[3>]eretz[<3]. {17:50} So David prevailed over the Pelishti with a
sling and with a stone, and struck the Pelishti, and killed him; but
there was no sword in the hand of David. {17:51} Then David ran, and
stood over the Pelishti, and took his sword, and drew it out of the
sheath of it, and killed him, and cut off his head therewith. When the
Pelishtim saw that their champion was dead, they fled. {17:52} The men
of Yisra'el and of Yehudah arose, and shouted, and pursued the
Pelishtim, until you come to Gai, and to the gates of `Ekron. The
wounded of the Pelishtim fell down by the way to Sha`arayim, even to
Gat, and to `Ekron. {17:53} The children of Yisra'el returned from
chasing after the Pelishtim, and they plundered their camp. {17:54}
David took the head of the Pelishti, and brought it to Yerushalayim;
but he put his armor in his tent. {17:55} When Sha'ul saw David go
forth against the Pelishti, he said to Aviner, the captain of the
host, Aviner, whose son is this youth? Aviner said, As your soul
lives, O king, I can't tell. {17:56} The king said, "Inquire whose son
the young man is!"
{17:57} As David returned from the slaughter of the Pelishti, Aviner
took him, and brought him before Sha'ul with the head of the Pelishti
in his hand. {17:58} Sha'ul said to him, Whose son are you, you young
man? David answered, I am the son of your servant Yishai the
Beit-Hallachmite.
{18:1} It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Sha'ul,
that the soul of Yonatan was knit with the soul of David, and Yonatan
loved him as his own soul. {18:2} Sha'ul took him that day, and would
let him go no more home to his father's house. {18:3} Then Yonatan and
David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. {18:4}
Yonatan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to
David, and his clothing, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his
sash. {18:5} David went out wherever Sha'ul sent him, [and] behaved
himself wisely: and Sha'ul set him over the men of war, and it was
good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Sha'ul's
servants. {18:6} It happened as they came, when David returned from
the slaughter of the Pelishti, that the women came out of all the
cities of Yisra'el, singing and dancing, to meet king Sha'ul, with
timbrels, with joy, and with instruments of music. {18:7} The women
sang one to another as they played, and said, Sha'ul has slain his
thousands, David his ten thousands. {18:8} Sha'ul was very angry, and
this saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David
ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what
can he have more but the kingdom? {18:9} Sha'ul eyed David from that
day and forward. {18:10} It happened on the next day, that an evil
spirit from God came mightily on Sha'ul, and he prophesied in the
midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as he did day by
day. Sha'ul had his spear in his hand; {18:11} and Sha'ul cast the
spear; for he said, I will strike David even to the wall. David
avoided out of his presence twice. {18:12} Sha'ul was afraid of David,
because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Sha'ul. {18:13}
Therefore Sha'ul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a
thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. {18:14} David
behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him.
{18:15} When Sha'ul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood
in awe of him. {18:16} But all Yisra'el and Yehudah loved David; for
he went out and came in before them. {18:17} Sha'ul said to David,
Behold, my elder daughter Merav, her will I give you as wife: only be
valiant for me, and fight the LORD's battles. For Sha'ul said, Don't
let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Pelishtim be on him.
{18:18} David said to Sha'ul, Who am I, and what is my life, [or] my
father's family in Yisra'el, that I should be son-in-law to the king?
{18:19} But it happened at the time when Merav, Sha'ul's daughter,
should have been given to David, that she was given to `Adri'el the
Mecholati as wife. {18:20} Mikhal, Sha'ul's daughter, loved David: and
they told Sha'ul, and the thing pleased him. {18:21} Sha'ul said, I
will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the
hand of the Pelishtim may be against him. Therefore Sha'ul said to
David, You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time. {18:22}
Sha'ul commanded his servants, [saying], Commune with David secretly,
and say, Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants
love you: now therefore be the king's son-in-law. {18:23} Sha'ul's
servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, Seems it
to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a
poor man, and lightly esteemed? {18:24} The servants of Sha'ul told
him, saying, On this manner spoke David. {18:25} Sha'ul said, Thus
shall you tell David, The king desires no dowry except one hundred
foreskins of the Pelishtim, to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now
Sha'ul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Pelishtim.
{18:26} When his servants told David these words, it pleased David
well to be the king's son-in-law. The days were not expired; {18:27}
and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Pelishtim
two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them
in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law.
Sha'ul gave him Mikhal his daughter as wife. {18:28} Sha'ul saw and
knew that the LORD was with David; and Mikhal, Sha'ul's daughter,
loved him. {18:29} Sha'ul was yet the more afraid of David; and Sha'ul
was David's enemy continually. {18:30} Then the princes of the
Pelishtim went forth: and it happened, as often as they went forth,
that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of
Sha'ul; so that his name was much set by.
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Footnotes:
[1] {17:46} earth
[2] {17:46} earth
[3] {17:49} earth
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