Goliath Challenges Israel's Army
1 The Philistines got ready for war and brought their troops together to attack the town of Socoh in Judah. They set up camp at Ephes-Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. 2-3 King Saul and the Israelite army set up camp on a hill overlooking Elah Valley, and they got ready to fight the Philistine army that was on a hill on the other side of the valley.
4 The Philistine army had a hero named Goliath who was from the town of Gath and was about three meters tall. 5-6 He wore a bronze helmet and had bronze armor to protect his chest and legs. The chest armor alone weighed about 57 kilograms. He carried a bronze sword strapped on his back, 7 and his spear was so big that the iron spearhead alone weighed about seven kilograms. A soldier always walked in front of Goliath to carry his shield.
8 Goliath went out and shouted to the army of Israel:
Why are you lining up for battle? I'm the best soldier in our army, and all of you are in Saul's army. Choose your best soldier to come out and fight me! 9 If he can kill me, our people will be your slaves. But if I kill him, your people will be our slaves. 10 Here and now I challenge Israel's whole army! Choose someone to fight me!
11 Saul and his men heard what Goliath said, but they were so frightened of Goliath that they couldn't do a thing.
David Decides To Challenge Goliath
12 David's father Jesse was an old man, who belonged to the Ephrath clan and lived in Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons: 13-14 the oldest was Eliab, the next was Abinadab, and Shammah was the third. The three of them had gone off to fight in Saul's army.
David was Jesse's youngest son. 15 He took care of his father's sheep, and he went back and forth between Bethlehem and Saul's camp.
16 Goliath came out and gave his challenge every morning and every evening for 40 days.
17 One day, Jesse told David, “Hurry and take this sack of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers at the army camp. 18 And here are ten large chunks of cheese to take to their commanding officer. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back something that shows that they're all right. 19 They're with Saul's army, fighting the Philistines in Elah Valley.”
20 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 with him and said, “What are you doing here, anyway? Who's taking care of your 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 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 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.
David Kills 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 All-Powerful. He is the God of Israel's army, and you have insulted him too!
46 Today the Lord 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 doesn't need swords or spears to save his people. The Lord 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. 52 But the soldiers of Israel and Judah let out a battle cry and went after them as far as Gath and Ekron. The bodies of the Philistines were scattered all along the road from Shaaraim to Gath and Ekron.
53 When the Israelite army returned from chasing the Philistines, they took what they wanted from the enemy camp. 54 David took Goliath's head to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath's weapons in his own tent.
David Becomes One of Saul's Officers
55 After King Saul had watched David go out to fight Goliath, Saul turned to the commander of his army and said, “Abner, who is that young man?”
“Your Majesty,” Abner answered, “I swear by your life that I don't know.”
56 “Then find out!” Saul told him.
57 When David came back from fighting Goliath, he was still carrying Goliath's head.
Abner took David to Saul, 58 and Saul asked, “Who are you?”
“I am David the son of Jesse, a loyal Israelite from Bethlehem.”
Goliat ma toko Ovaisrael
1 Ovafilisti va woronganisira ovimbumba vyawo vyovita mOsoko, tji tji ri otjOvajuda, nave tono ozondanda zawo pokati ka Soko na Aseka mOefes-Damim. 2 Saul nOvaisrael wina va worongana nave tono ozondanda zawo mOtjanatjomimbonde, nave rirongerere okurwisa Ovafilisti. 3 NOvafilisti va kuramene keṋe yondundu imwe, nOvaisrael va kuramene keṋe yondundu yarwe, tjandje nao otjana tji ri pokati kawo.
4 Nu pa ri omurumendu wena Goliat, ngwa zire kotjihuro Gat; neye wa pita mozondanda zOvafilisti na katoka Ovaisrael. Eye wa ri noure wozometa mangara ndatu 5 nu wa ri nekori rongoporo kotjiuru, nombanda yongoporo motjari, ndja ri nondjinda yozokirograma mangara omirongo vitano na hambombari. 6 Komarama we kwa ri ovitjizikize vyongoporo, nu aa tjindi enga rongoporo kotjiṱuve. 7 Omupiṋe wenga re wa ṱekire pomuti wetemba, nomuzi waro wa ri nondjinda yozokirograma mangara hambombari. Nomutjinde woruvao rwe aa kayenda komurungu we. 8 Goliat wa kuramene na ravaere kOvaisrael, mba kuramene motuteto, na tja ku wo: “Mamu ungura tjike mbo, mwe rirongerere ovita poo? Ami owami Omufilisti, neṋe oweṋe ovakarere va Saul! Toororeye umwe weṋu e ye tu rwe! 9 Eye tje ndji havere ne ndji zepa, eṱe matu rire ovakarere veṋu, nami tji mbe mu havere ne mu zepa, eṋe mamu rire ovakarere vetu.” 10 NOmufilisti ngwi wa hungira komurungu a tja: “Ndinondi me toko Ovaisrael mba kurama motuteto! Ndji toororereye omurumendu umwe tu rwe.” 11 Nu Saul nOvaisrael avehe tji va zuva omambo wOmufilisti ngwi, va uruma nave tira tjinene.
David mozondanda za Saul
12 David wa ri omuzandu wa Isai, ngwa ri Omuefrat wa Betlehem mOjuda. Isai wa ri novazandu hambondatu, nu oruveze ndwi Saul ngunda e ri ombara, Isai tjandje wa kurupa tjinene. 13 Novazandu ve imba ovanene vetatu va ire puna Saul kovita. Ingwi erumbi wa ri Eliab, nomukwao oAbinadab, nu ingwi outjatatu wa ri Sama. 14 David ongwa ri ongero, nu imba omarumbi we ngunda ave kara puna Saul, 15 ingwi David aa i kObetlehem okukarisa ozonḓu zaihe.
16 Omuhuka nongurova aihe, oure womayuva omirongo vine, Goliat tjandje u toka Ovaisrael.
17 Eyuva rimwe Isai wa tja nai komuzandu we David: “Kambura otjiyaha tjimwe tjovikokotwa vyondjinda yozokirograma omurongo mbya ngarurwa, nozomboroto omurongo nḓa, nu vi twara tjimanga komarumbi woye mbe ri kovita mozondanda za Saul. 18 Nu twaerera ozongahera zovitungwi vyomaere omurongo nḓa komuhongore weyovi, nu katjiwe kutja omarumbi woye ve ri vi, nu u kaeterere otjiṋa tji matji raisa kutja we ve munu nu ve ri nawa. 19 Ombara Saul nomarumbi woye novarumendu avehe vOvaisrael mave rwisa Ovafilisti mOtjanatjomimbonde.”
20 David wa sekama omuhuka omunene wependukirwa na sye po omundu okuṱakamisa ozonyanda; eye wa toora ovikurya na i otja Isai pe mu rakiza. Eye wa kavaza kozondanda, Ovaisrael tji va ri pokuyenda kovita amave tono ombimbi. 21 Novimbumba vyOvaisrael vyovita na imbi vyOvafilisti vya kuramene potuveze twavyo twomarwiro. 22 Nu David wa yandja ovikurya mbya eterera komutjevere womitwaro na tupuka kotuteto twomarwiro. Nu tja kavaza ngo, wa kapura omarumbi we kutja ve ri vi. 23 David ngunda ama hungire na wo, Goliat arire tja ryama komurungu na toko Ovaisrael tjimuna indu tje tjita aruhe, nu David we mu zuva. 24 NOvaisrael tji va muna Goliat, va tupuka tjandje mave mu tira. 25 Nowo va tja nai: “Omurumendu ngwa rondo mbo mwe mu munu? Eye weya okutoka Ovaisrael. Nu ingwi ngu me mu zepa, ombara mai mu pe outumbe ounene nomuatje wayo okukupa, nu mai kutura eṱunḓu re arihe kokusuta otjouhona mOisrael.”
26 David otja pura ovarumendu, mba kuramene pu ye, a tja: “Omurumendu ngu ma zepa Omufilisti ngwi nokukutura Ovaisrael komanyekerero nga ma pewa tjike? Nu hapo Omufilisti omunavisenginina ngwi, omukendu, kutja ma yenene okunyekerera otjimbumba tjovita tja Ndjambi omunamuinyo?” 27 Nowo ve mu raera imbi mbi mavi tjitwa komundu ngu ma zepa Goliat.
28 Erumbi re Eliab wa zuva David ama hungire puna ovarumendu. Neye otja pindikira David tjinene, na tja: “Hapo, we ere tjike nguno? Nozonḓu mokuti onguza we ze esa na uṋe? Ami me tjiwa oupikapike nouhahu woye. Ove weya okutarera ovita uriri.”
29 Nu David wa pura a tja: “Nambano mba ungura tjike? Ami mba pura uriri.” 30 Neye wa vingurukira komurumendu warwe na pura epuriro tjingero; novarumendu avehe eye mba pura ve mu zira omambo tjingewo.
31 Ovandu tji va zuu omambo David nga hungire, arire tji va raere Saul, neye wa raa kutja David e ye ku ye. 32 David arire tja tja ku Saul: “Kape na umwe ngu ma sokutira Omufilisti ngo! Ami, omukarere woye, me vanga okukemurwisa.”
33 Saul arire tja ziri a tja: “Ove ko nakuyenena okukarwisa Omufilisti ngwi, ove tjinga au ri okaṱiṱi, neye e ri omurumendu wovita okuza koumutanda we!”
34 David otja tja nai ku Saul: “Ami, omukarere woye, ee risire tate ozonyanda; nu tji pe ya ongeyama poo ongu nai hakana onyanda morupanda, 35 ee i teza, e i tono ne hakana onyanda ndji motjinyo tjayo, nu tji ye ndji pirukire, ee i kambura momurenge, ne i tono e i zepa. 36 Ami, omukarere woye, ee zepa ozongeyama nozongu, nu opunga ame tjiti kOmufilisti ngwi omunavisenginina, eye tjinga e nyekerera otjimbumba tjovita tja Ndjambi omunamuinyo.” 37 David wa hungira komurungu a tja: “Muhona ngwe ndji yama mozonyara zozongeyama nozongu, eye wina me ndji yama momake wOmufilisti ngwi.”
Saul wa tja nai ku David: “Osemba, twende, nu Muhona nga kare puna ove!” 38 Saul arire tja zarisa David ozombanda ze zovita, okutja ekori rongoporo nozombanda zongoporo. 39 David we rivaranga nengaruvyo ra Saul ngunda e nozombanda zovita na roro okukawondja, nungwari kaa sora, eye tjinga e hiye ze iririra okuzezara. Neye wa tja ku Saul: “Ami hi nokusora okurwa nozombanda nḓa. Hiye ze iririra.” David otje ze hukura azehe. 40 Neye wa toora okati ke kouṱuta, na paha omawe yetano omaheze moruramba, ne ye twa mondjaṱu ye youṱuta; neye wa ri nokangarena ke meke tja kahakaena na Goliat.
David ma zepa Goliat
41 NOmufilisti wa yendayenda okuya popezu na David, nomutjinde woruvao rwe aa ka wondja momurungu we. 42 Omufilisti tja era omeho we na munu David, arire tje mu nyengura, tjinga a ri omuzandu omuṱiṱi wombunikiro ombwa nowomuhapo omuwa. 43 Neye wa ravaera ku David a tja: “Okati okaye ngo? Mo tjangovasi owami ombwa?” Neye wa ravaerera David osengiro koomukuru vovisenginina. 44 NOmufilisti wa ravaera komurungu na tja ku David: “Indjo uri ku ami, mbi yandje onyama yoye kozonḓera na kovipuka ovinyondorore!”
45 David wa zira a tja: “Ove we ndji yendere nengaruvyo nenga notjikatana, nungwari ami mbe ku yendere mena ra Muhona Omunamasaaehe, Ndjambi wovimbumba vya Israel vyovita, ngu wa nyekerera. 46 Ndinondi Muhona me ku twa meke randje; ami me ku zepa, ne ku kondo otjiuru, nu me yandja omitundu vyotjimbumba tjOvafilisti tjovita kozonḓera na kovipuka ovinyondorore, ehi arihe ri tjiwe kutja Ovaisrael ve na Ndjambi. 47 Nu auhe weṋu ma munu kutja Muhona ke nakuhepa omangaruvyo nomanga okuyama otjiwaṋa tje. Eye u kara noutoṋi motjirwa, nu me mu yandja amuhe momake wetu.”
48 Goliat wa uta okukayenda okuhungama David rukwao, nu David wa tupuka tjimanga koṋa komarwiro wOvafilisti okukemurwisa. 49 David wa hakahana okunana ewe mondjaṱu, e ri yumbu nokangarena na vete Omufilisti; newe ra nyaa otjipara tje, neye arire tja u onḓurumika. 50 Komuhingo mbwi otja zepa Goliat nokangarena newe, nokuhinengaruvyo. 51 David wa kakurama kombanda yOmufilisti na nana engaruvyo ra Goliat motjihweka, ne mu kondo otjiuru.
NOvafilisti tji va muna kutja ombangaṋe yawo ya koka, otji va tupuka. 52 Ovaisrael nOvajuda va rambera Ovafilisti ondjira aihe nga kOgat na komivero vya Ekron amave ravaere. Nomitundu vyOvafilisti vya saravara pehi mondjira ndji yenda kOsaaraim nga kOgat na Ekron. 53 NOvaisrael va kotoka tji va za nokurambera Ovafilisti, nave huura ozondanda zawo. 54 David wa twara otjiuru tja Goliat kOjerusalem, nungwari imbi ovirwise vya Goliat we vi ṱizira mondanda ye omuini.
David ma etwa ku Saul
55 Saul tja muna David ama i okukarwisa Goliat, arire tja pura ku Abner, omuhongore we wovita, a tja: “Abner, omuzandu ngwi owauṋe?”
Abner arire tja ziri nai: “Tjiri, mbara, ami hi mu i!”
56 Saul wa rakiza a tja: “Kemupure kutja eye omuzandu wauṋe?”
57 David tja kotoka kozondanda, tja za nokuzepa Goliat, Abner we mu twara ku Saul; David tjandje wa tjindi otjiuru tja Goliat. 58 Saul we mu pura a tja: “Muzandu, oove omuatje wauṋe?”
David wa zira a tja: “Owami omuzandu womukarere woye Isai wa Betlehem.”
