David Anointed and Confronts Goliath

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel! Fill up your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me.” Yahweh said, “You must take a heifer from the herd with you, and you must say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.’ You will invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will make known to you what you must do. You will anoint for me the one whom I tell you.” So Samuel did what Yahweh said. He came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. They said, “Have you come in peace?” He said, “ I come in peace. I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” So he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he saw Eliab and said, “Surely his anointed one is before Yahweh!” But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God does not see what man sees, for a man looks on the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, “This one also Yahweh has not chosen.” So Jesse made Shammah pass before Samuel , but he said, “Yahweh also has not chosen this one.” And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” And he said, “The youngest still remains, but look, he is shepherding the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we cannot sit down until he comes here.” So he sent and brought him. Now he was ruddy with beautiful eyes and of handsome appearance. And Yahweh said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day on. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

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1 Samuel 17:32-50

David said to Saul, “Do not let anyone’s heart fail concerning him! Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” But Saul said to David, “You will not be able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are only a boy, whereas he has been a man of war since his childhood!” And David said to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group, I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab it by its beard and strike it down and kill it. Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God.” And David said, “Yahweh, who rescued me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “Go and may Yahweh be with you!” Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with body armor. Then David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire, but he tried in vain to walk around , for he was not trained to use them . So David said to Saul, “I am not able to walk with these, because I am not trained to use them .” So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and he put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. Then the Philistine came on, getting nearer and nearer to David, with his shield bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was only a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance. So the Philistine said to David, “ Am I a dog, that you are coming to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!” Then 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 in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied! This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head! Then I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God who is for Israel. And all of this assembly will know that Yahweh does not rescue with sword or with spear, for the battle belongs to Yahweh, and he will give you into our hands!” When the Philistine got up and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand into the bag and took a stone from it and slung it . He struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David’s hand.

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