1 Samuel 17: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The Philistine and Israelite armies face each other across the valley of Elah, and for forty days the Philistine champion Goliath comes out to challenge Israel to send one man to fight him. David, the youngest son of Jesse, arrives with food for his brothers, hears the challenge, and tells Saul he will fight. Refusing Saul's armor, David goes out with a sling and five stones, kills Goliath with a stone to the forehead, and cuts off his head with Goliath's own sword. The Philistines run, Israel chases them, and Saul asks Abner and then David himself whose son David is.

Claim by Claim

1. 17:1
   • The Philistines gathered their armies for battle.
   • They gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah.
   • They camped between Socoh and Azekah, at Ephes-dammim.
2. 17:2
   • Saul and the men of Israel gathered together.
   • They camped in the Valley of Elah.
   • They drew up in battle formation to face the Philistines.
3. 17:3
   • The Philistines stood on the hill on one side.
   • Israel stood on the hill on the other side.
   • A valley lay between them.
4. 17:4
   • A champion came out from the camp of the Philistines.
   • His name was Goliath.
   • He was from Gath.
   • His height was six cubits and a span.
5. 17:5
   • He had a bronze helmet on his head.
   • He was clothed in scale armor.
   • The weight of the armor was five thousand shekels of bronze.
6. 17:6
   • He had bronze greaves on his legs.
   • He had a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders.
7. 17:7
   • The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam.
   • The head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron.
   • A man carrying a large shield walked before him.
8. 17:8
   • He stood and called out to the battle ranks of Israel.
   • He asked them why they came out to draw up for battle.
   • He said that he was the Philistine.
   • He said that they were servants of Saul.
   • He told them to choose a man for themselves.
   • He told them to have that man come down to him.
9. 17:9
   • He said that if the man was able to fight him and strike him down, the Philistines would become their servants.
   • He said that if he prevailed against the man and struck him down, they would become the Philistines' servants and serve them.
10. 17:10
    • The Philistine said he defied the battle ranks of Israel that day.
    • He demanded that they give him a man.
    • He said this so that they might fight together.
11. 17:11
    • Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine.
    • They were dismayed.
    • They were greatly afraid.
12. 17:12
    • David was the son of that Ephrathite man from Bethlehem of Judah.
    • The man's name was Jesse.
    • Jesse had eight sons.
    • In the days of Saul the man was old, advanced in years.
13. 17:13
    • The three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle.
    • The name of the firstborn was Eliab.
    • The second was Abinadab.
    • The third was Shammah.
14. 17:14
    • David was the youngest.
    • The three eldest followed Saul.
15. 17:15
    • David went back and forth from Saul to shepherd his father's flock at Bethlehem.
16. 17:16
    • The Philistine drew near morning and evening.
    • He took his stand for forty days.
17. 17:17
    • Jesse said to David his son to take an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves for his brothers.
    • He told him to run to the camp to his brothers.
18. 17:18
    • Jesse told him to bring these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their thousand.
    • He told him to see how his brothers were faring.
    • He told him to take a pledge or token from them.
19. 17:19
    • Saul, David's brothers, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah.
    • They were fighting with the Philistines.
20. 17:20
    • David rose early in the morning.
    • He left the flock with a keeper.
    • He took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him.
    • He came to the encampment's barricade.
    • The army was going out to the battle line.
    • They were shouting the battle cry.
21. 17:21
    • Israel and the Philistines drew up battle line facing battle line.
22. 17:22
    • David left the baggage he carried in the hand of the keeper of the baggage.
    • He ran to the battle line.
    • He came and asked his brothers about their welfare.
23. 17:23
    • While he was speaking with them, the champion came up.
    • His name was Goliath the Philistine of Gath.
    • He came up from the ranks of the Philistines.
    • He spoke the same words as before.
    • David heard him.
24. 17:24
    • All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him.
    • They were greatly afraid.
25. 17:25
    • The men of Israel asked whether they had seen this man coming up.
    • They said he comes up to defy Israel.
    • They said the king would enrich the man who strikes him down with great riches.
    • They said the king would give him his daughter.
    • They said the king would make his father's house free in Israel.
26. 17:26
    • David spoke to the men standing with him.
    • He asked what would be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel.
    • He asked who this uncircumcised Philistine was.
    • He asked that he should defy the armies of the living God.
27. 17:27
    • The people answered him in this manner.
    • They said that this is what would be done for the man who strikes him down.
28. 17:28
    • Eliab his eldest brother heard him speaking to the men.
    • Eliab's anger burned against David.
    • Eliab asked why he had come down.
    • Eliab asked with whom he had left those few sheep in the wilderness.
    • Eliab said he knew David's presumption and the evil of his heart.
    • Eliab said David had come down to see the battle.
29. 17:29
    • David asked what he had now done.
    • David asked whether it was not just a word, which can mean either that it was only a question or that there was a cause.
30. 17:30
    • He turned away from him toward another.
    • He spoke in the same manner.
    • The people answered him as they had the first time.
31. 17:31
    • The words David spoke were heard.
    • They were reported before Saul.
    • Saul sent for David and took him.
32. 17:32
    • David said to Saul that no man's heart should fail because of him.
    • David said his servant would go and fight with this Philistine.
33. 17:33
    • Saul said to David that he was not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him.
    • Saul said David was a youth.
    • Saul said the Philistine had been a man of war from his youth.
34. 17:34
    • David said to Saul that his servant had been shepherding his father's flock.
    • David said a lion and a bear came, without making clear whether this was one occasion or separate ones.
    • David said it carried off a lamb from the flock.
35. 17:35
    • David said he went out after it.
    • David said he struck it.
    • David said he rescued the lamb from its mouth.
    • David said that when it rose against him he seized it by its beard.
    • David said he struck it.
    • David said he killed it.
36. 17:36
    • David said his servant had struck down both the lion and the bear.
    • David said this uncircumcised Philistine would be like one of them.
    • David said this because the Philistine had defied the armies of the living God.
37. 17:37
    • David said the LORD who delivered him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear would deliver him from the hand of this Philistine.
    • Saul told David to go.
    • Saul said the LORD would be with him.
38. 17:38
    • Saul clothed David with his own garments.
    • Saul put a bronze helmet on David's head.
    • Saul clothed him with a coat of armor.
39. 17:39
    • David girded his sword over his garments.
    • David tried to walk.
    • He had not tested the armor.
    • David said to Saul that he could not go in these because he had not tested them.
    • David took them off.
40. 17:40
    • He took his staff in his hand.
    • He chose five smooth stones from the streambed.
    • He put them in the shepherd's bag he had, in the pouch.
    • His sling was in his hand.
    • He drew near to the Philistine.
41. 17:41
    • The Philistine came on, drawing nearer to David.
    • The man bearing the large shield went before him.
42. 17:42
    • The Philistine looked and saw David.
    • He despised him.
    • He despised him because David was a youth, ruddy, and handsome in appearance.
43. 17:43
    • The Philistine asked David whether he was a dog, that David came to him with sticks.
    • The Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44. 17:44
    • The Philistine told David to come to him.
    • He said he would give David's flesh to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the field.
45. 17:45
    • David said to the Philistine that he came against him with sword, spear, and javelin.
    • David said he came against the Philistine in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.
    • David said the Philistine had defied that God.
46. 17:46
    • David said that this day the LORD would deliver the Philistine into his hand.
    • David said he would strike him down.
    • David said he would take his head from him.
    • David said he would give the corpses of the Philistine camp that day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth.
    • David said this would happen so that all the earth would know that there is a God belonging to Israel.
47. 17:47
    • David said all this assembly would know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear.
    • David said the battle belongs to the LORD.
    • David said the LORD would give them into Israel's hands.
48. 17:48
    • The Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David.
    • David hurried.
    • David ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
49. 17:49
    • David put his hand into his bag.
    • He took a stone from there.
    • He slung it.
    • He struck the Philistine in his forehead.
    • The stone sank into his forehead.
    • The Philistine fell on his face to the ground.
50. 17:50
    • David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone.
    • He struck the Philistine and killed him.
    • There was no sword in David's hand.
51. 17:51
    • David ran and stood over the Philistine.
    • He took the Philistine's sword.
    • He drew it out of its sheath.
    • He killed him with it.
    • He cut off his head with it.
    • The Philistines saw that their champion was dead.
    • The Philistines fled.
52. 17:52
    • The men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted.
    • They pursued the Philistines as far as the approach to the valley and to the gates of Ekron.
    • The slain of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron.
53. 17:53
    • The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines.
    • They plundered their camps.
54. 17:54
    • David took the head of the Philistine.
    • He brought it to Jerusalem.
    • He put the Philistine's weapons in his own tent.
55. 17:55
    • When Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he spoke to Abner the commander of the army.
    • Saul asked Abner whose son this young man was.
    • Abner swore by the king's life that he did not know.
56. 17:56
    • The king told Abner to inquire whose son the young man was.
57. 17:57
    • When David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him.
    • Abner brought him before Saul.
    • The head of the Philistine was in David's hand.
58. 17:58
    • Saul asked him whose son he was, young man.
    • David said he was the son of Saul's servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

17:1

The Philistines were a people settled on the coastal plain to the south-west of Israel, in five main cities (Gath, Ekron, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Gaza). Through this period they were Israel's chief military rivals, pressing inland from the coast. Shochoh, Azekah and Ephes-dammim lie in the low hill country between the coastal plain and the Judean highlands.

17:2

The valley of Elah is one of the natural corridors running from the Philistine plain up into the hills of Judah, so an army holding it controls the road inland. Both sides camping on the slopes with the valley floor between them is a stand-off: whoever crosses first fights uphill.

17:3

The King James "mountain" translates a word that here means a hill or ridge. The two armies are facing each other across a valley, each holding the high ground on its own side, which is why neither wants to attack first: whoever goes down into the valley loses the advantage of the slope.

17:4

"Champion" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning roughly "the man between the two" (a fighter who steps into the space separating the armies. A cubit was about eighteen inches (45 cm), the length of a forearm; a span was about nine inches (23 cm), the width of a spread hand. Six cubits and a span is therefore around nine feet nine inches (2.9 m). Some of the oldest surviving manuscripts) the Dead Sea Scrolls and the early Greek translation, read "four cubits and a span," about six feet nine inches (2.06 m), which would still make him a giant beside men of that era.

17:5

A shekel was a unit of weight, about two-fifths of an ounce (11.5 g), not a coin at this date. Five thousand shekels is roughly 125 pounds (57 kg). "Coat of mail" renders a Hebrew term for scale armor: hundreds of small bronze plates sewn overlapping onto a leather or cloth backing, like fish scales.

17:6

The Hebrew word rendered "javelin" here (kidon) is disputed: it may be a light throwing spear, or a curved sword or scimitar. The King James "target" means a small shield. What is clear is that it was a bronze weapon carried slung across his back.

17:7

A weaver's beam is the thick wooden roller on an upright loom, several inches across, the point is the sheer thickness of the spear shaft. Six hundred shekels of iron is about fifteen pounds (7 kg) for the spearhead alone. Iron was still relatively new and costly in this period, and the Philistines had the advantage in working it.

17:9

Settling a battle by single combat between two chosen champions, with both armies bound by the result, was a recognized practice in the ancient Near East and Greek world. It spared an army, though in practice the losing side rarely honored the bargain.

17:10

To dare someone like this means to say you are not afraid of them. Goliath was also making fun of Israel.

17:12

"Ephrathite" here means a member of the clan of Ephrath, an older name for Bethlehem and its district, not a man from the tribe of Ephraim. The King James "went among men for an old man" simply means he was reckoned an old man.

17:13

The oldest son was called the firstborn. He was given the biggest share of what his father owned.

17:15

David had already been serving King Saul, playing music for him. He kept going home between visits to care for the sheep.

17:16

Forty days is more than a month of waiting.

17:17

An ephah was a dry measure of about 22 liters, roughly two-thirds of a bushel, a substantial load of grain. "Corn" in 1611 English meant grain of any kind, never maize; parched corn is grain roasted over a fire, a standard field ration that needed no cooking.

17:18

The "captain of their thousand" is the officer commanding the unit his brothers served in; the cheeses are a courtesy gift to him. "Take their pledge" translates an obscure Hebrew phrase: David is to bring home some token or proof from his brothers showing they are alive and well, soldiers' families had no other way of hearing.

17:20

The King James "trench" does not mean a ditch dug for fighting. It renders a Hebrew word for the circular barricade of wagons and baggage thrown up around a camp for protection.

17:22

"Carriage" in 1611 English meant the things one carries, baggage or supplies, not a vehicle. Armies posted a man to guard the piled-up baggage while the troops formed up.

17:25

Marrying the king's daughter would make the man part of the royal household. Freeing his father's house means exempting the whole family, permanently, from the taxes in kind and the forced labor service a king could demand, a standing reward, not a one-off payment.

17:26

Circumcision was the physical mark of belonging to Israel's covenant community. Most of Israel's immediate neighbors practiced it; the Philistines, who had come from elsewhere, did not, which is why "uncircumcised" works as a specifically anti-Philistine insult and not merely a general one.

17:28

"Naughtiness" in 1611 English meant wickedness or malice, a strong accusation, not the mild word it has since become. As eldest brother Eliab held authority over David in their father's absence.

17:29

The Hebrew of David's second sentence is compressed and genuinely ambiguous. It can mean "It was only a word, a question," brushing the rebuke aside, or "Is there not a reason?", meaning that something here is worth speaking about. Translators are divided.

17:31

"Rehearsed" in 1611 English means repeated or reported word for word, not practiced in advance.

17:32

Calling yourself someone's servant was the polite way to speak to a king, even if you did not work for him.

17:33

The Hebrew word for "youth" (na'ar) covers a wide range, from a boy to an unmarried young man not yet counted among the fighting men. Saul's objection is about military age and training, not about David's size.

17:34

Shepherds stayed outside with their sheep all night. Wild animals came, and the shepherd had to drive them off.

17:35

The King James "beard" translates a Hebrew word for the hair of the jaw, a lion's mane, or the animal's throat and jaw. David describes seizing the beast at close quarters, not merely striking at it.

17:37

Where the King James prints "LORD" in capitals it stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants often written YHWH. Jewish readers avoided saying it aloud and substituted the ordinary word for "Lord," a practice the English translators followed.

17:38

Saul was described earlier as a head taller than any other Israelite, so his own armor on a boy is the point of the scene. A bronze helmet and a scale coat were expensive gear that only a king or a wealthy warrior would own.

17:39

"Assayed" means attempted, and "proved" means tested or gotten used to through practice. David is not saying the armor is uncomfortable; he is saying he has never trained in it and cannot move.

17:40

A sling was not a toy but a standard weapon: a leather pouch on two cords, whirled and released to hurl a stone at lethal speed over a considerable distance. Shepherds carried them against predators, and armies fielded trained slingers. The King James "scrip" is an old word for a small pouch or satchel.

17:42

"Ruddy" describes a reddish or fair complexion, perhaps with red hair, meant as a compliment to his looks, and here also a sign of how young and unweathered he appeared.

17:43

Dogs in this culture were scavengers that hung about rubbish heaps, not pets; calling a man a dog was a serious insult. Goliath's complaint is that David approaches him with a stick, the way one drives off a stray animal, rather than with weapons.

17:44

Leaving a corpse unburied for scavengers was the ultimate degradation in this world, worse than death itself. Goliath is not just threatening to kill David but to deny him a grave.

17:45

"LORD of hosts" means the LORD of armies. The phrase can refer to Israel's fighting men, to the heavenly armies, or to both at once; the Hebrew does not specify which, and David sets the title directly against Goliath's list of weapons.

17:51

The King James says David "slew him" after Goliath has already gone down, which reads oddly in English. The Hebrew verb covers finishing off a fallen opponent; the stone knocked him down and the sword completed it. Taking the head was standard proof of a kill in ancient warfare, and doing it with the champion's own sword compounds the humiliation for the watching Philistines.

17:52

The King James "until thou come to the valley" follows the Hebrew word gai, valley; the early Greek translation reads "Gath," the name of a city, which differs from it by one letter and fits the geography of the rest of the verse better. Both readings are ancient.

17:53

"Spoiled their tents" means plundered the abandoned camp. Taking the losers' equipment and supplies was the normal and expected reward of a victory, and for an Israelite army short of iron weapons it mattered a great deal.

17:54

This raises a known difficulty: Jerusalem was still a Jebusite city at this point and was not taken by David until years later (2 Samuel 5). Some read this as the narrator looking ahead to where the trophy eventually ended up. "His tent" is likewise unclear in the Hebrew, David's own quarters, or possibly the sanctuary.

17:55

"As thy soul liveth" is a standard oath formula, roughly "as surely as you are alive", a way of swearing the answer is honest. That Saul does not recognize David, after chapter 16 has David playing the harp in his service, is a long-noted tension in the book; the oldest Greek manuscripts contain a much shorter version of this chapter that lacks verses 12–31 and 55–58, and many scholars think two separate accounts of David's arrival have been preserved side by side.

17:56

"Stripling" is an old English word for a boy in his teens, not yet filled out into a man.