David and Goliath
1 After these things the Philistines came to fight against Israel. David had returned to the wilderness to feed his sheep, and the Midianites came and would have taken his sheep, and he came down to them and fought against them and killed 15,000 of them. This is the first battle that David fought, while he was in the wilderness. 2 A man came out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, and he looked upon Saul and upon Israel and said, “Are you not Saul, who fled before me when I took the ark from you and killed your priests? And now that you reign, will you come down to me like a man and a king and fight against us? If not, I will come to you and cause you to be taken captive, and your people to serve our gods.” When Saul and Israel heard that, they were greatly afraid. The Philistine said, “According to the number of days in which Israel feasted when they received the law in the wilderness, even 4 days, I will reproach them, and after that I will fight with them.” 3 When the 4 days were fulfilled, and David had come to see the battle of his brothers, he heard the words the Philistine spoke and said, “Is this perhaps the time of which God said to me, ‘I will deliver the adversary of my people into your hand by stones’?” 4 Saul heard these words and sent and took him and said, “What was the speech you spoke to the people?” David said, “Do not be afraid, O king, for I will go and fight against the Philistine, and God will take away the hatred and reproach from Israel.” 5 David went forth and took 7 stones and wrote on them the names of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, and his own name, and the name of the Most Mighty. And God sent Cervihel, the angel who is over strength. 6 David went forth to Goliath and said to him, “Hear a word before you die. Were not the two women of whom you and I were born sisters? Your mother was Orpha and my mother was Ruth. Orpha chose for herself the gods of the Philistines and went after them, but Ruth chose for herself the ways of the Most Mighty and walked in them. And now you and your brothers are born of Orpha; and as you have risen this day and come to lay Israel waste, I also, who am born of your kindred, have come to avenge my people. For your three brothers also will fall into my hands after your death. And then you will say to your mother, ‘The one born of your sister has not spared us.’” 7 David put a stone in his sling and struck the Philistine in his forehead, and ran upon him and drew his sword out of the sheath and took his head from him. Goliath said to him while his life was still in him, “Hurry and kill me and rejoice.” 8 David said to him, “Before you die, open your eyes and look at your slayer who has killed you.” The Philistine looked and saw the angel and said, “You have not killed me by yourself, but the one who was with you, whose form is not like the form of a man.” And then David took his head from him. 9 The angel of the Lord lifted up the face of David, and no one recognized him. When Saul saw David, he asked him who he was, and there was no one who knew who he was.