Study Desk

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

The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver's beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.

but David went back and forth so he could help his father with the sheep in Bethlehem.

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

As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel.

"Have you seen the giant?" the men asked. "He comes out each day to defy Israel. 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!"

David asked the soldiers standing nearby, "What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Saul 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."

Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail.

He 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.

Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him,

"Am I a dog," he roared at David, "that you come at me with a stick?" And he cursed David by the names of his gods.

And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord 's battle, and he will give you to us!"

Reaching into his shepherd's bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.

Then David ran over and pulled Goliath's sword from its sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran.

(David took the Philistine's head to Jerusalem, but he stored the man's armor in his own tent.)

As Saul watched David go out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of his army, "Abner, whose son is this young man?" "I really don't know," Abner declared.

As soon as David returned from killing Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul with the Philistine's head still in his hand.

"Tell me about your father, young man," Saul said. And David replied, "His name is Jesse, and we live in Bethlehem."

Jonathan sealed the pact by taking off his robe and giving it to David, together with his tunic, sword, bow, and belt.