David and Goliath

Also called: Goliath

A story told in religious scripture.

A story told in the First Book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible: the shepherd boy David felled the Philistine giant Goliath in the Valley of Elah with a single stone from his sling.

This is the story told in 1 Samuel 17. When the Israelite army of King Saul and the Philistines faced each other across the Valley of Elah, the Philistine champion Goliath, said to be six cubits and a span tall (about 3 m), came out every day to demand single combat. When no one dared, the shepherd boy David, who had brought food to his brothers, went out without armour, slung a stone that struck Goliath in the forehead, and brought him down.

Famous from that day, David went on to succeed Saul as king, the Bible says. The story is still used everywhere to mean the small overcoming the great.

2 Samuel 21 in the same Bible names the slayer of Goliath as Elhanan, and scholars suggest that another man’s feat may later have been credited to David. Archaeology confirms that the Philistines lived on the south-western coast of Canaan at this time.