And then, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet
David, David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
And when he was a little way from him, he put his hand in his bag, and
took thence a stone, and put it in his sling, and slung it, and smote
the Philistine in the forehead, so that the stone sank into his
forehead; and he fell on his face to the earth.
And David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and
drew it out of its sheath, and slew him with it.
Then, when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
But the army of Israel pursued them, and victory was with the men of
Israel.
And after the battle, David was taken to the king's tent, and made a
captain over many men; and he went no more to his father's house, to
herd the sheep, but became a man, in the king's service.
THE SHEPHERD'S SONG
David had many fierce battles to fight for King Saul against the
enemies of Israel, and he won them all. Then, later, he had to fight
against the king's own soldiers, to save himself, for King Saul grew
wickedly jealous of David's fame as a soldier, and tried to kill him.
Twice, when David had a chance to kill the king, he let him go safe;
but even then, Saul kept on trying to take his life, and David was kept
away from his home and land as if he were an enemy.
But when King Saul died, the people chose David for their king, because
there was no one so brave, so wise, or so faithful to God. King David
lived a long time, and made his people famous for victory and
happiness; he had many troubles and many wars, but he always trusted
that God would help him, and he never deserted his own people in any
hard place.
After a battle, or when it was a holiday, or when he was very thankful
for something, King David used to make songs, and sing them before the
people. Some of these songs were so beautiful that they have never
been forgotten. After all these hundreds and hundreds of years, we
sing them still; we call them Psalms.
Often, after David had made a song, his chief musician would sing with
him, as the people gathered to worship God. Sometimes the singers were
divided into two great choruses, and went to the service in two
processions; then one chorus would sing a verse of David's song, and
the other procession would answer with the next, and then both would
sing together; it was very beautiful to hear. Even now, we sometimes
do that with
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