The Holy Bible 1 Samuel 17.32-54 by Robert Alter Lyrics

And David said to Saul "Let no man's heart fail him! You servant will go and do battle with this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "You cannot go against this Philistine to do battle with him, for you are a lad and he is a man of war from his youth." And David said to Saul, "A Shepard has your servant been for his father with the flock. When the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the herd, I would go out after him and strike him down and rescue it from his clutches. And if he would rise against me, I would seize his beard and strike him and kill him. Both lion and bear your servant has struck down, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has insulted the battle lines of the living God." And David said, "The Lord who has rescued me from the lion and the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you." And Saul clothed David in his own battle garb and put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him in armor. And David girded his sword over his garments, but he was unable to walk, for he was unused to it, and David said to Saul, "I cannot walk in these, for I am unused to it." And David removed them. And he took his stick in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the creek and put them in the shepherd's pouch he had, in the satchel, and his slingshot was in his hand, and he came forward toward the Philistine. And the Philistine looked and saw David, and he despised him, for he was a lad, and ruddy, with good looks. And the Philistine said, "Come to me, that I may give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field!" And David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, and I come to you with the name of the Lord of Armies, God of the battle lines of Israel that you have insulted. This day shall the Lord give you over into my hand and I will strike you down and take off your head, and I will give your corpse and the corpses of the Philistine camp this day to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth, and all the earth shall know that Israel has a God! And all this assembly shall know that not by sword nor by spear does the Lord rescue, for the Lord's is the battle and he shall give you into our hand!" And it happened as the Philistine arose and was drawing near David that David hastened and ran out from the lines toward the Philistine. And he reached his hand into the pouch and took from there a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. And David bested the Philistine with sling and stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, and no sword was in David's hand. And David ran up and stood over the Philistine and took the sword from him and pulled it out of its sheath and finished him off and cut off his head with it. And the Philistines saw that their warrior was dead, and they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose and shouted and gave chase to the Philistines until you come to the ravine and until the gates of Ekron, and the Philistine dead fell on the way to Shaaraim and as far as Gath and Ekron. And the Israelites came back from pursuing the Philistines and looted their camps. And David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, but his weapons he put in his tent.