I Samuel 17

¹Forsothe Filisteis gaderiden her cumpenyes in to batel, and camen togidere in Socoth of Juda, and settiden tentis bitwixe Socoth and Azecha, in the coostis of Domyn.

²Sotheli Saul and the men of Israel weren gaderid, and camen in to the valey of Terebynte, and dressiden scheltrun to fiyte ayens Filisteis.

³And Filisteis stoden aboue the hil on this part, and Israel stood on the hil on the tother part of the valey, that was bitwixe hem. And a man, `sone of a widewe, whos fadir was vncerteyn, yede out of the `castels of Filisteis, Goliath bi name of Geth, of sixe cubitis heiy and a spanne; and a brasun basynet on his heed;

⁵and he was clothid with `an haburioun hokid, ether mailid; forsothe the weiyte of his haburioun was fyue thousynde siclis of bras;

⁶and he hadde `bootis of bras in the hipis, and a `scheld of bras hilide hise schuldris.

⁷Forsothe `the schaft of his spere was as the beem of webbis; forsothe thilke yrun of his spere hadde sixe hundrid siclis of yrun; and his squier yede bifor hym.

⁸And he stood, and cried ayens the cumpenyes of armed men of Israel, and seide to hem, Why camen ye redi to batel? Whether Y am not a Filistei, and ye ben the seruauntis of Saul? Chese ye a man of you, and come he doun to syngulere batel;

⁹if he may fiyte with me, and sleeth me, we schulen be `seruauntis to you; forsothe if Y haue the maystry, and sle hym, ye schulen be boonde, and `ye schulen serue vs.

¹⁰And `the Filistei seide, Y haue `seyd schenschip to dai to the cumpenyes of Israel; yyue ye a man, and bigynne he `synguler batel with me.

¹¹Sotheli Saul and alle men of Israel herden siche wordis of `the Filistey, and thei weren astonyed, and dredden greetli.

¹²Forsothe Dauid was `the sone of a man of Effrata, of whom it is `biforseid, of Bethleem of Juda, to `which man the name was Isay, which hadde eiyte sones; and `the man was eld in the daies of Saul, and of greet age among men.

¹³Sotheli thre grettere sones of Ysai yeden after Saul in to batel; and the names of hise thre sones, that yeden to batel, Heliab, the firste gendryd, and the secounde, Amynadab, and the thridde, Samma.

¹⁴Forsothe Dauid was the leeste. Therfor while thre grettere sueden Saul, Dauid yede,

¹⁵and turnede ayen fro Saul, that he schulde kepe the floc of his fadir in Bethleem.

¹⁶Forsothe the Filistey cam forth in the morewtid, and euentid; and stood `bi fourti daies.

¹⁷Sotheli Ysai seide to Dauid his sone, Take thou to thi britheren meete maad of meele, the mesure of ephi, and these ten looues, and renne thou in to the castels to thi britheren;

¹⁸and thou schalt bere to the tribune these ten `litil formes of chese; and thou schalt visite thi britheren, whether thei doon riytli, and lurne thou, with whiche men thei ben ordeyned.

¹⁹Forsothe Saul, and thei, and alle the sones of Israel in the valei of Terebynte fouyten ayens Filisteis.

²⁰Therfor Dauid roos eerli, and bitook the floc to the kepere, and he yede chargid, as Ysai `hadde comaundid to hym; and he cam to the place Magala, and to the oost, which oost yede out to the batel, and criede in `the batel.

²¹For Israel hadde dressid scheltrun; `but also Filisteis weren maad redi `euen ayens.

²²Therfor Dauid lefte the vessels, whiche he hadde brouyt, vndur the hond of a kepere `at the fardels, and he ran to the place of batel, and he axyde, if alle thingis weren `doon riytli anentis hise britheren.

²³And whanne he spak yit to hem, thilke bastard apperide, Goliath bi name, a Filistei of Geth, and stiede fro the castels of Filisteis; and `while he spak these same wordis, Dauid herde.

²⁴And whanne alle men of Israel hadden seyn `the man, thei fledden fro his face, and dredden hym greetli.

²⁵And ech man of Israel seide, Whether thou hast seyn this man that stiede? for he stiede to seie schenship to Israel; therfor the kyng schal make riche with greet richessis `the man that sleeth thilke Filistei; and the kyng schal yyue his douyter to that man, and schal make the hows of his fader with out `tribut in Israel.

²⁶And Dauyd spak to the men that stoden with hym, and seide, What schal be youun to the man that sleeth this Filistei, and doith awei schenschip fro Israel? for who is this Filistei vncircumcidid, that dispiside the scheltruns of God lyuynge?

²⁷Forsothe the puple tolde to hym the same word, and seide, These thingis schulen be youun to the man that sleeth hym.

²⁸And whanne Heliab, `his more brother, had herd this, while he spak with othere men, he was wrooth ayens Dauid, and seide, Whi camest thou, and whi `leftist thou tho fewe scheep in deseert? Y knowe thi pride, and the wewardnesse of thin herte; for thou camest doun to se the batel.

²⁹And Dauid seide, What haue Y do? Whether it is not a word?

³⁰And Dauid bowide a litil fro hym to another man; and Dauid seide the same word, and the puple answeride to hym al word as bifore.

³¹Forsothe these wordis weren herd, whiche Dauid spak, and weren teld `in the siyt of Saul.

³²And whanne Dauyd was brouyt to Saul, Dauyd spak to hym, The herte of ony man falle not doun for `that Filistei, Y thi seruaunt schal go, and `Y schal fiyte ayens the Filistei.

³³And Saul seide to Dauid, Thou maist not ayenstonde this Filistei, nether fiyte ayens hym, for thou art a child; forsothe this man is a werriour fro his yong wexynge age.

³⁴And Dauid seide to Saul, Thi seruaunt kepte `the floc of his fadir, and a lioun cam, ether a bere, and took awei a ram fro the myddis of the floc;

³⁵Y pursuede, and killide hem, and rauyschide fro `the mouth of hem; and thei risiden ayens me, and I took the nether chaule `of hem, and Y stranglide, and killide hem.

³⁶For Y thi seruaunt killide bothe a lioun and a bere; therfor and this Filistei vncircumcidid schal be as oon of hem. Now Y schal go, and Y schal do awey the schenschip of the puple; for who is this Filistei vncircumcidid, that was hardi to curse the oost of God lyuynge?

³⁷And Dauid seide, The Lord that delyuerede me fro the `mouth of the lioun, and fro the `hond, that is, power, of the bere, he schal delyuere me fro the hond of this Filistei. Forsothe Saul seide to Dauid, Go thou, and the Lord be with thee.

³⁸And Saul clothide Dauid with hise clothis, and puttide a brasun basynet on his heed, and clothide hym with an haburioun.

³⁹Therfor Dauid was gird with his swerd on his cloth, and bigan to asaie if he myyte go armed; for he hadde not custom. And Dauid seide to Saul, Y may not go so, for Y haue not vss. And Dauid puttide awei tho,

⁴⁰and he took his staaf, which he hadde euere in the hondis. And he chees to hym fyue clereste stonys, that is, harde, pleyn, and rounde, of the stronde; and he sente tho in to the schepherdis scrippe, which he hadde with hym; and he took the slynge in the hond, and yede forth ayens the Filistei.

⁴¹Sotheli the Filistei yede, `goynge and neiyyng ayens Dauid; and his squyer yede bifor hym.

⁴²And whanne `the Filistei hadde biholde Dauid, and hadde seyn hym, he dispiside Dauid; forsothe Dauid was a yong wexynge man, rodi, and feir in siyt.

⁴³And `the Filistei, seide to Dauid, Whether Y am a dogge, for thou comest to me with a staf? And `the Filistei curside Dauid in hise goddis; and he seide to Dauid,

⁴⁴Come thou to me, and Y schal yyue thi fleischis to the `volatilis of heuene, and to the beestis of erthe.

⁴⁵Sotheli Dauid seide to `the Filistei, Thou comest to me with swerd, and spere, and scheeld; but Y come to thee in the name of the Lord God of oostis, of God of the cumpanyes of Israel, to whiche thou seidist schenschip to dai.

⁴⁶And the Lord schal yyue thee in myn hond, and Y schal sle thee, and Y schal take awey thin heed fro thee; and I schal yyue the deed bodies of the castels of Filisteis `to day to the volatils of heuene, and to the beestis of erthe; that al the erthe wite, that the Lord God is in Israel,

⁴⁷and that al this chirche knowe, that the Lord saueth not in swerd nether in spere; for the batel is his, and he schal bitake you in to oure hondis.

⁴⁸Therfor whanne the Filistei hadde rise, and cam, and neiyede ayens Dauid, Dauid hastide, and ran to batel ayens `the Filistei.

⁴⁹And Dauid putte his hond `in to his scrippe, and he took o stoon, and he castide with the slynge, `and ledde aboute, and smoot `the Filistei in the forheed; and the stoon was fastned in his forheed, and he felde doun in to his face on the erthe.

⁵⁰And Dauid hadde the maistrie ayens `the Filistei `in a slyng and stoon, and he killide `the Filistei smytun. And whanne Dauid hadde no swerd in the hond,

⁵¹he ran, and stood on `the Filistei, and took his swerd; and Dauid drow out the swerd of his schethe, and `killide him, and kittide awei his heed. Forsothe the Filisteis sien, that the strongeste of hem was deed, and thei fledden.

⁵²And the sones of Israel and of Juda risiden to gidere, and crieden, and pursueden Filisteis, `til the while thei camen in to the valei, and `til to the yate of Accaron. And woundid men of Filisteis felden in the weye of Sarym, and `til to Geth, and `til to Accaron.

⁵³And the sones of Israel turneden ayen, aftir that thei hadden pursuede Filisteis, and thei assailiden `the tentis of hem.

⁵⁴Forsothe Dauid took the heed of `the Filistei, and brouyte it in to Jerusalem; sotheli he puttide hise armeris in the `tabernacle of the Lord.

⁵⁵Forsothe in that tyme in which Saul siy Dauid goynge out ayens `the Filistei, he seide to Abner, prince of his chiualrie, Abner, of what generacioun `cam forth this yong waxynge man? And Abner seide, Kyng, thi soule lyueth, I knowe not.

⁵⁶And the kyng seide, Axe thou, whos sone this child is.

⁵⁷And whanne Dauid hadde come ayen, whanne `the Filistei was slayn, Abner took Dauid, and brouyte hym in, hauynge in the hond the heed of `the Filistei, `bifor Saul.

⁵⁸And Saul seide to hym, Of what generacioun art thou, yong waxynge man? And Dauid seide, Y am the sone of thi seruaunt, Isai of Bethleem.

I Samuel 17

¹Now 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 Ephes–dammim.

²And 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.

³And 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.

⁴And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

⁵And 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.

⁶And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.

⁷And 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.

⁸And 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.

⁹If 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.

¹⁰And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

¹²Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Beth–lehem–judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.

¹⁵But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Beth–lehem.

¹⁶And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

¹⁷And 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;

¹⁸And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.

¹⁹Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

²⁰And 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.

²¹For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.

²²And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.

²³And 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.

²⁴And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.

²⁵And 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.

²⁶And 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?

²⁷And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

²⁸And 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.

²⁹And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

³⁰And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

³¹And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.

³²And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

³³And 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.

³⁴And 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:

³⁵And 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.

³⁶Thy 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.

³⁷David 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.

³⁸And 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.

³⁹And 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.

⁴⁰And 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.

⁴¹And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.

⁴²And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

⁴³And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴And 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.

⁴⁵Then 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.

⁴⁶This 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.

⁴⁷And 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.

⁴⁸And 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.

⁴⁹And 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.

⁵⁰So 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.

⁵¹Therefore 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.

⁵²And 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.

⁵³And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents.

⁵⁴And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.

⁵⁵And 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.

⁵⁶And the king said, Enquire thou whose son the stripling is.

⁵⁷And 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.

⁵⁸And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth–lehemite.