Valley of Elah

In the Valley of Elah the armies of Israel and Philistia once faced each other across the brook, their camps pitched on opposing hills while the giant Goliath daily defied the living God. It was here that the young shepherd David, trusting not in armor but in the name of the Lord, felled the champion with a single stone and thereby turned the tide of battle, revealing how divine power works through the weak to deliver His people. The same valley later figured in David's flight when he retrieved Goliath's sword from Nob, marking the place as a continuing witness to God's sovereign choice of an unlikely king whose line would bring lasting redemption.

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Region: Shephelah
Modern Location: Wadi es-Sant, Israel

Strongest connections in Scripture

1 Samuel 17 2× 1 Samuel 21

Key Passages

Israel Camps Against the Philistines

1 Samuel 17:1-3

Saul and the men of Israel pitched camp in the valley of Elah facing the Philistine army.

N¹ow the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.

² And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. ³ And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.

David Defeats Goliath

1 Samuel 17:49-50

David slew Goliath with a sling stone in the Valley of Elah, routing the Philistines.

A⁴⁹nd David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

David Retrieves Goliath's Sword

1 Samuel 21:9

The sword of Goliath was kept at Nob after the battle in the Valley of Elah.

A⁹nd the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.