The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever! Psalm 111:10

1 Samuel 17

Goliath’s Challenge

¹ Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and they gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. ² Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and encamped in the valley of Elah, and they set up in battle formation against the Philistines.

³ The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them. ⁴ A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was nine feet, nine inches, went out. ⁵ He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he wore a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 125 pounds of bronze. ⁶ He had bronze shin armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. ⁷ The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s iron head weighed 15 pounds. His shield bearer went before him.

⁸ He stood and cried to the armies of Israel and said to them, “Why have you come out lined up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you, servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants, but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” ¹⁰ The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight!”

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

Jesse Sends David

¹² Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. The man was elderly in the days of Saul. ¹³ The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle, and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest, and the three oldest followed Saul. ¹⁵ Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ The Philistine came near morning and evening, and presented himself 40 days.

¹⁷ Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers, ¹⁸ and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand and see how your brothers are doing and bring back news. ¹⁹ Now they are with Saul and all the men of Israel, in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.”

²⁰ David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the supplies and went, as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the place of the wagons, as the army which was going out to the fight shouted for the battle.

David Accepts the Challenge

²¹ Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation, army against army. ²² David left his baggage in the hand of the baggage keeper and ran to the army and came and greeted his brothers. ²³ As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and said the same words, and David heard them.

²⁴ All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were terrified. ²⁵ The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He has surely come up to defy Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.”

²⁶ David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

²⁷ The people answered him in this way, saying, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”

²⁸ Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the evil of your heart, for you have come down that you might see the battle.”

²⁹ David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” ³⁰ He turned away from him toward another and spoke like that again, and the people answered him again the same way.

David Slays Goliath

³¹ When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul, and he sent for him.

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

³³ Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”

³⁴ David said to Saul, “Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, ³⁵ I went out after him and struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his fur and struck him, and killed him. ³⁶ Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 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 Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go! The Lord will be with you.” ³⁸ Saul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of bronze on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. ³⁹ David strapped his sword on his clothing, and he tried to move, for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, “I can’t go with these, for I have not tested them.” Then David took them off. ⁴⁰ He took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag which he had. His sling was in his hand, and he came near to the Philistine.

⁴¹ The Philistine walked and came near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked around and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy and had a good looking face. ⁴³ The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine 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.”

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of God of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ Today, the Lord will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines today to the birds of the sky and to the wild animals of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

⁴⁸ When the Philistine arose and walked and came near to meet David, David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ David put his hand in his bag, took a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. ⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹ Then David ran, stood over the Philistine, took his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it.

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵² The men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as Gai and to the gates of Ekron. The wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ The Israelites returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. ⁵⁴ David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

Saul Notices David

⁵⁵ When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?”
Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I can’t tell.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is!”

⁵⁷ 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. ⁵⁸ Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, you young man?”

David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

John 8:22-30

²² The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

²³ He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. ²⁴ I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ They said therefore to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”

²⁷ They did not understand that he spoke to them about the Father.

²⁸ Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things. ²⁹ He who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

³⁰ As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

Psalm 111

How Majestic are His Works

¹ Hallelujah!

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.

² The works of the Lord are great,
pondered by all those who delight in them.
³ His work is honor and majesty.
His righteousness endures forever.
⁴ He has made his wonderful works to be remembered.
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
⁵ He has given food to those who fear him.
He always remembers his covenant.

⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
⁷ The works of his hands are truth and justice.
All his precepts are sure.
⁸ They are established forever and ever.
They are done in truth and uprightness.
⁹ He has sent redemption to his people.
He has ordained his covenant forever.
His name is holy and awesome!

¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
All those who do his work have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!

Proverbs 15:11

¹¹ Sheol and Abaddon are before the Lord—
how much more then, the hearts of the children of men!

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