Samuel & King Saul

David got up early in the morning, left the sheep with a helper, took his load and set out, as Yishai had ordered him. He arrived at the barricade of the camp just as the troops were going out to their battle stations and shouting the war cry.

Isra'el and the P'lishtim had set up their battle lines facing each other.

David left his equipment in charge of the equipment guard, ran to the troops, went to his brothers and asked if they were well.

As he was talking with them, there came the champion, the P'lishti from Gat named Golyat, from the ranks of the P'lishtim, saying the same words as before; and David heard them.

When the soldiers from Isra'el saw the man, they all ran away from him, terrified.

The soldiers from Isra'el said [to each other], "You saw that man who just came up? He has come to challenge Isra'el. To whoever kills him, the king will give a rich reward; he'll also give him his daughter and exempt his father's family from all service and taxes in Isra'el."

David said to the men standing with him, "What reward will be given to the man who kills this P'lishti and removes this disgrace from Isra'el? Who is this uncircumcised P'lishti anyway, that he challenges the armies of the living God?"

The people answered with what they had been saying, adding, "That's what will be done for the man who kills him."

Eli'av his oldest brother heard when David spoke to the men, and it made Eli'av angry at him. He asked, "Why did you come down here? With whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is! You just came down to watch the fighting."

David said, "What have I done now? I only asked a question."

He turned away from him to someone else and asked the same question, and the people gave him the same answer.

David's words were overheard and told to Sha'ul, who summoned him.

David said to Sha'ul, "No one should lose heart because of him; your servant will go and fight this P'lishti."

Sha'ul said to David, "You can't go to fight this P'lishti -you're just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth!"

David answered Sha'ul, "Your servant used to guard his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear would come and grab a lamb from the flock,

I would go after it, hit it, and snatch the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned on me, I would catch it by the jaw, smack it and kill it.

Your servant has defeated both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised P'lishti will be like one of them, because he has challenged the armies of the living God."

Then David said, "ADONAI, who rescued me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will rescue me from the paw of this P'lishti!" Sha'ul said to David, "Go; may ADONAI be with you."

Sha'ul dressed David in his own armor - he put a bronze helmet on his head and gave him armor plate to wear.

David buckled his sword on his armor and tried to walk, but he wasn't used to such equipment. David said to Sha'ul, "I can't move wearing these things, because I'm not used to them." So David took them off.

Then he took his stick in his hand and picked five smooth stones from the riverbed, putting them in his shepherd's bag, in his pouch. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the P'lishti.

The P'lishti, with his shield-bearer ahead of him, came nearer and nearer to David.

The P'lishti looked David up and down and had nothing but scorn for what he saw - a boy with ruddy cheeks, red hair and good looks.

The P'lishti said to David, "Am I a dog? Is that why you're coming at me with sticks?"- and the P'lishti cursed David by his god.

Then the P'lishti said to David, "Come here to me, so I can give your flesh to the birds in the air and the wild animals."