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1 Samuel 17:20-51 CEV David obeyed his father. He got up early the next morning and left someone else in charge of the sheep; then he loaded the supplies and started off. He reached the army camp just as the soldiers were taking their places and shouting the battle cry. (21) The army of Israel and the Philistine army stood there facing each other. (22) David left his things with the man in charge of supplies and ran up to the battle line to ask his brothers if they were well. (23) While David was talking with them, Goliath came out from the line of Philistines and started boasting as usual. David heard him. (24) When the Israelite soldiers saw Goliath, they were scared and ran off. (25) They said to each other, "Look how he keeps coming out to insult us. The king is offering a big reward to the man who kills Goliath. That man will even get to marry the king's daughter, and no one in his family will ever have to pay taxes again." (26) David asked some soldiers standing nearby, "What will a man get for killing this Philistine and stopping him from insulting our people? Who does that worthless Philistine think he is? He's making fun of the army of the living God!" (27) The soldiers told David what the king would give the man who killed Goliath. (28) David's oldest brother Eliab heard him talking with the soldiers. Eliab was angry at him and said, "What are you doing here, anyway? Who's taking care of that little flock of sheep out in the desert? You spoiled brat! You came here just to watch the fighting, didn't you?" (29) "Now what have I done?" David answered. "Can't I even ask a question?" (30) Then he turned and asked another soldier the same thing he had asked the others, and he got the same answer. (31) Some soldiers overheard David talking, so they told Saul what David had said. Saul sent for David, and David came. (32) "Your Majesty," he said, "this Philistine shouldn't turn us into cowards. I'll go out and fight him myself!" (33) "You don't have a chance against him," Saul replied. "You're only a boy, and he's been a soldier all his life." (34) But David told him: Your Majesty, I take care of my father's sheep. And when one of them is dragged off by a lion or a bear, (35) I go after it and beat the wild animal until it lets the sheep go. If the wild animal turns and attacks me, I grab it by the throat and kill it. (36) Sir, I have killed lions and bears that way, and I can kill this worthless Philistine. He shouldn't have made fun of the army of the living God! (37) The LORD [ יהוה ] has rescued me from the claws of lions and bears, and he will keep me safe from the hands of this Philistine. "All right," Saul answered, "go ahead and fight him. And I hope the LORD [ יהוה ] will help you." (38) Saul had his own military clothes and armor put on David, and he gave David a bronze helmet to wear. (39) David strapped on a sword and tried to walk around, but he was not used to wearing those things. "I can't move with all this stuff on," David said. "I'm just not used to it." David took off the armor (40) and picked up his shepherd's stick. He went out to a stream and picked up five smooth rocks and put them in his leather bag. Then with his sling in his hand, he went straight toward Goliath. (41) Goliath came toward David, walking behind the soldier who was carrying his shield. (42) When Goliath saw that David was just a healthy, good-looking boy, he made fun of him. (43) "Do you think I'm a dog?" Goliath asked. "Is that why you've come after me with a stick?" He cursed David in the name of the Philistine gods (44) and shouted, "Come on! When I'm finished with you, I'll feed you to the birds and wild animals!" (45) David answered: You've come out to fight me with a sword and a spear and a dagger. But I've come out to fight you in the name of the LORD [ יהוה ] All-Powerful. He is the God of Israel's army, and you have insulted him too! (46) Today the LORD [ יהוה ] will help me defeat you. I'll knock you down and cut off your head, and I'll feed the bodies of the other Philistine soldiers to the birds and wild animals. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a real God. (47) Everybody here will see that the LORD [ יהוה ] doesn't need swords or spears to save his people. The LORD [ יהוה ] always wins his battles, and he will help us defeat you. (48) When Goliath started forward, David ran toward him. (49) He put a rock in his sling and swung the sling around by its straps. When he let go of one strap, the rock flew out and hit Goliath on the forehead. It cracked his skull, and he fell facedown on the ground. (50) David defeated Goliath with a sling and a rock. He killed him without even using a sword. (51) David ran over and pulled out Goliath's sword. Then he used it to cut off Goliath's head. When the Philistines saw what had happened to their hero, they started running away (from before יהוה ).
1 Samuel 17:20-51 NWT
20 Accordingly David got up early in the morning and left the sheep to the keeper's charge and picked up and went just as Jesse had commanded him. When he came to the camp enclosure, the military forces were going out to the battle line, and they raised a shout for the battle. 21 And Israel and the Philistines began drawing up battle line to meet battle line. 22 Immediately David left the baggage from off him to the care of the keeper of the baggage and went running to the battle line. When he came, he began asking about the welfare of his brothers. 23 While he was speaking with them, why, here the champion, his name being Goliath the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the battle lines of the Philistines, and he began speaking the same words as before, and David got to listen in. 24 As for all the men of Israel, on their seeing the man, why, they went fleeing on account of him and were very much afraid. 25 And the men of Israel began to say: "Have YOU seen this man that is coming up? For it is to taunt Israel that he is coming up. And it must occur that, the man who strikes him down, the king will enrich him with great riches, and his own daughter he will give him, and the house of his father he will set free in Israel." 26 And David began to say to the men that were standing close by him: "What will be done to the man that strikes down that Philistine over there and actually turns away reproach from upon Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he has to taunt the battle lines of the living God?" 27 Then the people said to him the same words as before, saying: "This is the way it will be done to the man that strikes him down." 28 And Eliab his oldest brother got to hear as he spoke to the men, and Eliabs anger grew hot against David, so that he said: "Why is it that you have come down? And in whose charge did you leave those few sheep behind in the wilderness? I myself well know your presumptuousness and the badness of your heart, because you have come down for the purpose of seeing the battle." 29 To this David said: "What have I done now? Was it not just a word?" 30 With that he turned about from beside him toward someone else and went saying the same word as before, and, in turn, the people gave him the same reply as formerly. 31 So the words that David spoke came to be heard, and they went telling them before Saul. Hence he fetched him. 32 And David proceeded to say to Saul: "Do not let the heart of any man collapse within him. Your servant himself will go and actually fight with this Philistine." 33 But Saul said to David: "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a boy, and he is a man of war from his boyhood." 34 And David went on to say to Saul: "Your servant became a shepherd of his father among the flock, and there came a lion, and also a bear, and [each] carried off a sheep from the drove. 35 And I went out after it and struck it down and made the rescue from its mouth. When it began rising against me, I grabbed hold of its beard and struck it down and put it to death. 36 Both the lion and the bear your servant struck down; and this uncircumcised Philistine must become like one of them, for he has taunted the battle lines of the living God." 37 Then David added: "Jehovah [ יהוה ] , who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he it is who will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." At this Saul said to David: "Go, and may Jehovah [ יהוה ] himself prove to be with you." 38 Saul now went clothing David with his garments, and he put a copper helmet upon his head, after which he clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 Then David girded his sword on over his garments and undertook to go [but could not], because he had not tried them out. Finally David said to Saul: "I am unable to go in these things, for I have not tried them out." So David removed them off him. 40 And he proceeded to take his staff in his hand and to choose for himself the five smoothest stones from the torrent valley and to place them in his shepherds bag that served him as a receptacle, and in his hand was his sling. And he began approaching the Philistine. 41 And the Philistine began to come, coming nearer and nearer to David, and the man carrying the large shield was ahead of him. 42 Now when the Philistine looked and saw David, he began despising him because he proved to be a boy and ruddy, of beautiful appearance. 43 So the Philistine said to David: "Am I a dog, so that you are coming to me with staves?" With that the Philistine called down evil upon David by his gods. 44 And the Philistine went on to say to David: "Just come to me, and I will give your flesh to the fowls of the heavens and to the beasts of the field." 45 In turn David said to the Philistine: You are coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you with the name of Jehovah [ יהוה ] of armies, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have taunted. 46 This day Jehovah [ יהוה ] will surrender you into my hand, and I shall certainly strike you down and remove your head off you; and I shall certainly give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines this day to the fowls of the heavens and to the wild beasts of the earth; and people of all the earth will know that there exists a God belonging to Israel. 47 And all this congregation will know that neither with sword nor with spear does Jehovah [ יהוה ] save, because to Jehovah [ יהוה ] belongs the battle, and he must give YOU men into our hand." 48 And it occurred that the Philistine rose and kept coming and drawing nearer to meet David, and David began hurrying and running toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David thrust his hand into his bag and took a stone from there and slung it, so that he struck the Philistine in his forehead and the stone sank into his forehead, and he went falling upon his face to the earth. 50 So David, with a sling and a stone, proved stronger than the Philistine and struck the Philistine down and put him to death; and there was no sword in David's hand. 51 And David continued running and got to stand over the Philistine. Then he took his sword and pulled it out of its sheath and definitely put him to death when he cut his head off with it. And the Philistines got to see that their mighty one had died, and they took to flight (from before יהוה ).
1 Samuel 17:20-51 GW David got up early in the morning and had someone else watch the sheep. He took the food and went, as Jesse ordered him. He went to the camp as the army was going out to the battle line shouting their war cry. (21) Israel and the Philistines formed their battle lines facing each other. (22) David left the supplies behind in the hands of the quartermaster, ran to the battle line, and greeted his brothers. (23) While he was talking to them, the Philistine champion, Goliath from Gath, came from the battle lines of the Philistines. He repeated his words, and David heard them. (24) When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him because they were terrified. (25) The men of Israel said, "Did you see that man coming from the Philistine lines? He keeps coming to challenge Israel. The king will make the man who kills this Philistine very rich. He will give his daughter to that man to marry and elevate the social status of his family." (26) David asked the men who were standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and gets rid of Israel's disgrace? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should challenge the army of the living God?" (27) The soldiers repeated to David how the man who kills Goliath would be treated. (28) Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard David talking to the men. Then Eliab became angry with David. "Why did you come here," he asked him, "and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how overconfident and headstrong you are. You came here just to see the battle." (29) "What have I done now?" David snapped at him. "Didn't I merely ask a question?" (30) He turned to face another man and asked the same question, and the other soldiers gave him the same answer. (31) What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, who then sent for him. (32) David told Saul, "No one should be discouraged because of this. I will go and fight this Philistine." (33) Saul responded to David, "You can't fight this Philistine. You're just a boy, but he's been a warrior since he was your age." (34) David replied to Saul, "I am a shepherd for my father's sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, (35) I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. If it attacked me, I took hold of its mane, struck it, and killed it. (36) I have killed lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has challenged the army of the living God." (37) David added, "The LORD [ יהוה ], who saved me from the lion and the bear, will save me from this Philistine." "Go," Saul told David, "and may the LORD [ יהוה ] be with you." (38) Saul put his battle tunic on David; he put a bronze helmet on David's head and dressed him in armor. (39) David fastened Saul's sword over his clothes and tried to walk, but he had never practiced doing this. "I can't walk in these things," David told Saul. "I've never had any practice doing this." So David took all those things off. (40) He took his stick with him, picked out five smooth stones from the riverbed, and put them in his shepherd's bag. With a sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. (41) The Philistine, preceded by the man carrying his shield, was coming closer and closer to David. (42) When the Philistine got a good look at David, he despised him. After all, David was a young man with a healthy complexion and good looks. (43) The Philistine asked David, "Am I a dog that you come to attack me with sticks?" So the Philistine called on his gods to curse David. (44) "Come on," the Philistine told David, "and I'll give your body to the birds." (45) David told the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD [ יהוה ] of Armies, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have insulted. (46) Today the LORD [ יהוה ] will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. And this day I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals. The whole world will know that Israel has a God. (47) Then everyone gathered here will know that the LORD [ יהוה ] can save without sword or spear, because the LORD [ יהוה ] determines every battle's outcome. He will hand all of you over to us." (48) When the Philistine moved closer in order to attack, David quickly ran toward the opposing battle line to attack the Philistine. (49) Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, hurled it from his sling, and struck the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank into Goliath's forehead, and he fell to the ground on his face. (50) So using only a sling and a stone, David proved to be stronger than the Philistine. David struck down and killed the Philistine, even though David didn't have a sword in his hand. (51) David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took Goliath's sword, pulled it out of its sheath, and made certain the Philistine was dead by cutting off his head. When the Philistines saw their hero had been killed, they fled (from before יהוה ).
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You will note the reference windows often include more than one translation of the Bible. The reason is to strive to gain the best possible understanding of the original Hebrew and Greek. Since we don't speak those languages, we rely on those who have come before and made the effort to translate those texts into English for us. Considering several translations gives the benefit of the understanding of several translation committees or individuals.
The Translations we quote are:
ALT - Analytical Literal Translation
ASV - American Standard Version (by the American revision committee in 1897).
Darby - 1889 Darby Bible
DRB - 1899 Douay-Rheims Bible
BBE - 1965 Bible in Basic English
LITV - Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
KJV - King James Version
MKJV - Modern King James Version
NWT - New World Translation
Webster - 1833 Webster Bible
RV - Revised Version
YLT - Young's Literal Translation