The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

And he answeared, Yea: I am come to doe sacrifice vnto the Lord: sanctifie your selues, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Ishai and his sonnes, and called them to the sacrifice.

And when they were come, hee looked on Eliab, and saide, Surely the Lordes Anointed is before him.

But the Lord said vnto Samuel, Looke not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature, because I haue refused him: for God seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord beholdeth the heart.

Then Ishai called Abinadab, and made him come before Samuel. And he saide, Neither hath the Lord chosen this.

Then Ishai made Shammah come. And he said, Neither yet hath the Lord chosen him.

Againe Ishai made his seue sonnes to come before Samuel: and Samuel saide vnto Ishai, The Lord hath chosen none of these.

Finally, Samuel said vnto Ishai, Are there no more children but these? And hee sayde, There remaineth yet a litle one behinde, that keepeth the sheepe. Then Samuel saide vnto Ishai, Sende and set him: for we will not sit downe, till he be come hither.

And he sent, and brought him in: and he was ruddie, and of a good countenance, and comely visage. And the Lord saide, Arise, and anoynt him: for this is he.

Then Samuel tooke the horne of oyle, and anoynted him in the middes of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came vpon Dauid, from that day forwarde: then Samuel rose vp, and went to Ramah.

But the Spirite of the Lord departed from Saul, and an euill spirite sent of the Lord vexed him.

And Sauls seruants said vnto him, Beholde nowe, the euill spirite of God vexeth thee.

Let our Lord therefore command thy seruants, that are before thee, to seeke a man that is a cunning plaier vpon the harpe: that when the euil spirit of God commeth vpon thee, hee may play with his hand, and thou maiest be eased.

Saul then saide vnto his seruantes, Prouide me a man, I pray you, that can play well, and bring him to me.

Then answered one of his seruauntes, and sayde, Beholde, I haue seene a sonne of Ishai, a Bethlehemite, that can plaie, and is strong, valiant and a man of warre and wise in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him.

Wherefore Saul sent messengers vnto Ishai, and said, Send me Dauid thy sonne which is with the sheepe.

And Ishai tooke an asse laden with breade and a flagon of wine and a kidde, and sent them by the hand of Dauid his sonne vnto Saul.

And Dauid came to Saul, and stoode before him: and he loued him verie well, and he was his armour bearer.

And Saul sent to Ishai, saying, Let Dauid nowe remaine with me: for he hath found fauour in my sight.

And so when the euil spirite of God came vpon Saul, Dauid tooke an harpe and plaied with his hande, and Saul was refreshed, and was eased: for the euill spirit departed from him.

Nowe the Philistims gathered their armies to battell, and came together to Shochoh, which is in Iudah, and pitched betweene Shochoh and Azekah, in the coast of Dammim.

And Saul, and the men of Israel assembled, and pitched in the valley of Elah, and put themselues in battell araie to meete the Philistims.

And the Philistims stoode on a mountaine on the one side, and Israel stoode on a mountaine on the other side: so a valley was betweene them.

Then came a man betweene them both out of the tents of the Philistims, named Goliath of Gath: his height was sixe cubites and an hande breadth,

Aud had an helmet of brasse vpon his head, and a brigandine vpon him: and the weight of his brigandine was fiue thousand shekels of brasse.

And he had bootes of brasse vpon his legs, and a shield of brasse vpon his shoulders.

And the shaft of his speare was like a weauers beame: and his speare head weyed sixe hundreth shekels of yron: and one bearing a shielde went before him.

And he stoode, and cried against the hoste of Israel, and saide vnto them, Why are yee come to set your battell in aray? am not I a Philistim, and you seruaunts to Saul? chuse you a man for you, and let him come downe to me.

If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then wil we be your seruants: but if I ouercome him, and kill him, then shall yee be our seruants, and serue vs.

Also the Philistim saide, I defie the hoste of Israel this day: giue mee a man, that we may fight together.

When Saul and all Israel heard those wordes of the Philistim, they were discouraged, and greatly afraide.

Nowe this Dauid was the sonne of an Ephrathite of Beth-lehem Iudah, named Ishai, which had eight sonnes: and this man was taken for an olde man in the daies of Saul.

And the three eldest sonnes of Ishai went and followed Saul to the battel: and the names of his three sonnes that went to battell, were Eliab the Eldest, and the next Abinadab, and the thirde Shammah.

So Dauid was the least: and the three eldest went after Saul.

Dauid also went, but hee returned from Saul to feede his fathers sheepe in Beth-lehem.

And the Philistim drew neere in the morning, and euening, and continued fourtie daies.

And Ishai said vnto Dauid his sone, Take nowe for thy brethren an Ephah of this parched corne, and these ten cakes, and runne to the hoste to thy brethren.

Also carie these ten fresh cheeses vnto the captaine, and looke howe thy brethren fare, and receiue their pledge.

(Then Saul and they, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistims)

So Dauid rose vp earely in the morning, and left the sheepe with a keeper, and tooke and went as Ishai had commanded him, and came within the compasse of the hoste: and the hoste went out in araie, and shouted in the battell.

For Israel and the Philistims had put themselues in araie, armie against armie.

And Dauid left the things, which hee bare, vnder the handes of the keeper of the cariage, and ranne into the hoste, and came, and asked his brethren howe they did.

And as hee talked with them, beholde, the man that was betweene the two armies, came vp, (whose name was Goliath ye Philistim of Gath) out of the armie of the Philistims, and spake such woordes, and Dauid heard them.

And all the men of Israel, when they sawe the man, ranne away from him, and were sore afraied.

For euery man of Israel saide, Sawe yee not this man that commeth vp? euen to reuile Israel is he come vp: and to him that killeth him, wil the king giue great riches, and will giue him his daughter, yea, and make his fathers house free in Israel.

Then Dauid spake to the men that stoode with him, and sayde, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistim, and taketh away the shame from Israel? for who is this vncircumcised Philistim, that he shoulde reuile the hoste of the liuing God?

And the people answered him after this maner, saying, Thus shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake vnto the men, and Eliab was verie angrie with Dauid, and sayde, Why camest thou downe hither? and with whome hast thou left those fewe sheepe in the wildernesse? I knowe thy pride and the malice of thine heart, that thou art come downe to see the battell.

Then Dauid sayde, What haue I nowe done? Is there not a cause?

And hee departed from him into the presence of another, and spake of the same maner, and the people answered him according to the former woordes.

And they that heard the wordes which Dauid spake, rehearsed them before Saul, which caused him to be brought.

So Dauid saide to Saul, Let no mans heart faile him, because of him: thy seruant wil goe, and fight with this Philistim.

And Saul sayde to Dauid, Thou art not able to goe against this Philistim to fight with him: for thou art a boye, and he is a man of warre from his youth.

And Dauid answered vnto Saul, Thy seruant kept his fathers sheepe, and there came a lyon, and likewise a beare, and tooke a sheepe out of the flocke,

And I went out after him and smote him, and tooke it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard, and smote him, and slue him.

So thy seruaunt slue both the lyon, and the beare: therefore this vncircumcised Philistim shall be as one of them, seeing hee hath railed on the hoste of the liuing God.

Moreouer Dauid sayd, The Lord that deliuered me out of the pawe of the lyon, and out of the paw of the beare, he wil deliuer me out of the hand of this Philistim. Then Saul sayd vnto Dauid, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

And Saul put his rayment vpon Dauid, and put an helmet of brasse vpon his head, and put a brigandine vpon him.

Then girded Dauid his sword vpon his rayment, and began to go: for he neuer proued it: and Dauid sayde vnto Saul, I can not goe with these: for I am not accustomed. wherefore Dauid put them off him.

Then tooke he his staffe in his hand, and chose him fiue smoothe stones out of a brooke, and put them in his shepheards bagge or skrippe, and his sling was in his hand, and he drewe neere to the Philistim.

And the Philistim came and drew neere vnto Dauid, and the man that bare the shielde went before him.

Now when the Philistim looked about and saw Dauid, he disdeined him: for he was but yong, ruddie, and of a comely face.

And the Philistim sayde vnto Dauid, Am I a dog, that thou commest to me with staues? And the Philistim cursed Dauid by his gods.

And the Philistim sayd to Dauid, Come to me, and I will giue thy flesh vnto the foules of the heauen, and to the beastes of the field.

Then sayd Dauid to the Philistim, Thou commest to me with a sword, and with a speare, and with a shield, but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hostes, the God of the hoste of Israel, whom thou hast rayled vpon.

This day shall the Lord close thee in mine hand, and I shall smite thee, and take thine head from thee, and I wil giue the carkeises of the hoste of the Philistims this daye vnto the foules of the heauen, and to the beasts of the earth, that all the world may know that Israel hath a God,

And that all this assembly may know, that the Lord saueth not with sworde nor with speare (for the battel is the Lords) and he will giue you into our handes.

And when the Philistim arose to come and drawe neere vnto Dauid, Dauid hasted and ran to fight against the Philistim.

And Dauid put his hande in his bagge, and tooke out a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistim in his forehead, that the stone sticked in his forehead, and he fell groueling to the earth.

So Dauid ouercame the Philistim with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistim, and slew him, when Dauid had no sword in his hand.

Then Dauid ranne, and stood vpon the Philistim, and tooke his sword and drew it out of his sheath, and slewe him, and cut off his head therewith. So whe the Philistims saw, that their champion was dead, they fled.

And the men of Israel and Iudah arose, and shouted, and followed after the Philistims, vntill they came to the valley, and vnto the gates of Ekron: and the Philistims fell downe wounded by the way of Shaaraim, euen to Gath and to Ekron.

And the children of Israel returned from pursuing the Philistims, and spoyled their tents.

And Dauid tooke the head of ye Philistim, and brought it to Ierusalem, and put his armour in his tent.

When Saul sawe Dauid go forth against the Philistim, he sayd vnto Abner the captaine of his hoste, Abner, whose sonne is this yong man? and Abner answered, As thy soule liueth, O King, I can not tell.

Then the King sayde, Enquire thou whose sonne this yong man is.

And when Dauid was returned from the slaughter of the Philistim, then Abner tooke him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistim in his hand.

And Saul sayde to him, Whose sonne art thou, thou yong man? And Dauid answered, I am the sonne of thy seruant Ishai the Bethlehemite.

And when he had made an ende of speaking vnto Saul, the soule of Ionathan was knit with the soule of Dauid, and Ionathan loued him, as his owne soule.

And Saul tooke him that day, and woulde not let him returne to his fathers house.

Then Ionathan and Dauid made a couenant: for he loued him as his owne soule.

And Ionathan put off the robe that was vpon him, and gaue it Dauid, and his garments, euen to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

And Dauid went out whithersoeuer Saul sent him, and behaued himselfe wisely: so that Saul set him ouer the men of warre, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Sauls seruants.

When they came againe, and Dauid returned from the slaughter of the Philistim, the women came out of all cities of Israel singing and dauncing to meete king Saul, with timbrels, with instruments of ioy, and with rebeckes.

And the women sang by course in their play, and sayd, Saul hath slayne his thousand, and Dauid his ten thousand.

Therefore Saul was exceeding wroth, and the saying displeased him, and he sayde, They haue ascribed vnto Dauid ten thousand, and to me they haue ascribed but a thousand, and what can he haue more saue the kingdome?

Wherefore Saul had an eye on Dauid from that day forward.

And on the morowe, the euill spirite of God came vpon Saul, and he prophecied in the middes of the house: and Dauid played with his hand like as at other times, and there was a speare in Sauls hand.

And Saul tooke the speare, and sayd, I will smite Dauid through to the wall. But Dauid auoyded twise out of his presence.

And Saul was afrayd of Dauid, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from Saul.

Therefore Saul put him from him, and made him a captaine ouer a thousand, and he went out and in before the people.

And Dauid behaued himselfe wisely in all his wayes: for the Lord was with him.

Wherefore when Saul saw that he was very wise, he was afrayde of him.

For all Israel and Iudah loued Dauid, because he went out and in before them.

Then Saul sayd to Dauid, Beholde mine eldest daughter Merab, her I will giue thee to wife: onely be a valiant sonne vnto me, and fight the Lordes battels: for Saul thought, Mine hand shall not be vpon him, but the hand of the Philistims shalbe vpon him.

And Dauid answered Saul, What am I? and what is my life, or the family of my father in Israel, that I should be sonne in law to the King?

Howbeit when Merab Sauls daughter should haue bene giuen to Dauid, she was giuen vnto Adriel a Meholathite to wife.

Then Michal Sauls daughter loued Dauid: and they shewed Saul, and the thing pleased him.

Therefore Saul said, I wil giue him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistims may bee against him. Wherefore Saul sayde to Dauid, Thou shalt this day be my sonne in law in the one of the twayne.

And Saul commanded his seruants, Speake with Dauid secretly, and say, Behold, ye King hath a fauour to thee, and all his seruants loue thee: be now therefore the Kings sonne in law.

And Sauls seruantes spake these wordes in the eares of Dauid. And Dauid sayd, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kings sonne in lawe, seeing that I am a poore man and of small reputation?